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About this iReport
  • Approved for CNN

    • Posted May 25, 2011 by
    EnufAlready0
    Location
    Norco, Louisiana
    Assignment
    Assignment
    This iReport is part of an assignment:
    Mississippi River flooding

    EnufAlready0 and 14 other iReporters contributed to Open Story: Mississippi River flooding
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    Fingers Crossed and a Silver Lining…

    By EnufAlready0  |  Posted May 25, 2011  |  Norco, Louisiana
     

    CNN PRODUCER NOTE     EnufAlready0 shot these photos with a Nikon D700 and used HDR processing to emphasize details in the images. She said there's a silver lining in the flooding across the Midwest and South -- fishing is better than ever.
    - katie, CNN iReport producer

    iReporter's Note:  Contrary to the producer's note above in which I am attributed: "She said there's a silver lining in the flooding across the Midwest and South --fishing is better than ever."   --  I did not state or indicate that flooding upriver is good in any way. The iReport below covers only the Bonnet Carre spillway at New Orleans, not the flooded areas of the entire "Midwest and South". That inclusive statement is the producer's interpretation of my iReport.

                      ---------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    As New Orleanians watch stabilizing Mississippi River levels at the Bonnet Carre Spillway with hope, spillway locals find a silver lining in a bountiful harvest of fish and expectations of a crawfish motherlode once the River's banks recede to normal.

     

    River and Bonnet Carre Spillway depths have begun to level off -- First photo was taken May 10, the day after the spillway opened. The second photo was taken May 24. The River has lowered and the basin risen to almost the same level. The second photo was also shot at a three-second exposure to exhibit the swirling power of the spillway currents. Normally a recreational area, the spillway waters are closed to the public during an opening....

     

    ... Except for what can be had from the shore -- suction from the force of water pulled through the spillway bays provides a rich environment for fisherman. The third and fourth photos demonstrate both the hard-working castnet method and the more leisurely take-it-or-leave-it-just-feel-like-fishing technique.

     

    The Bonnet Carre is 100% operational -- 133 of 135 bays are open. The fifth photo shows the bay pins laid atop their bay awaiting a sufficient drop in River levels to be replaced in their gates. Pins are square wood pilings lifted or inserted to open or close spillway gates. HDR was used in this photo to emphasize the detail of the pins.

     

    Correction 5.26.11:  The Bonnet Carre spillway has 350 bays and 330 of them are open. -- thanks and shouts out to @aglanker for the notice!

     

     

     

    Sections of the spillway basin can also be peaceful. Photo six was taken at sunset, away from the spillway gates.

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