flying cuttlefish picayune

From – Lucas Whitefield Hixson –

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Friday itanticipates opening the Morganza Spillway on the western bank of the swollen Mississippi River to divert floodwaters into theAtchafalaya River basin and protect Baton Rouge, Louisiana, New Orleans and refineries from flooding. It appears that not only are refineries in danger, but three nuclear power plants are also in danger of being flooded:

Entergy’s 1,176-megawatt Waterford nuclear plant in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana
978-megawatt River Bend nuclear plant in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and
1,268-megawatt Grand Gulf nuclear station in Clairborne County, Mississippi 

http://lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/united-states-nuclear-power-plants-threatened-spillway-flooding#comment-449

Also –

Mississippi floods highlight decay of US infrastructure 

. . .  The historic flooding in the Mississippi watershed casts a spotlight on the crumbling and patchwork state of America’s physical infrastructure. An aged and unsound levee system is the only defense against disaster for hundreds of thousands of people.

The Army Corps of Engineers has reported that nine percent of the levees it maintains are expected to fail in a flood event. . .

http://wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/infr-m14.shtml