Federal officials say they are going to open a Mississippi River floodgate for the first time in nearly four decades at 3 p.m. CDT.
The Army Corps of Engineers made the announcement Saturday. Opening the Morganza spillway will ease pressure on levees downstream and help prevent flooding in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
However, unlocking the floodgate will inundate a large swath of Cajun country in Louisiana. About 25,000 people and 11,000 structures could be in harm's way when the Morganza spillway is opened.
Engineers prepared Saturday to slowly open emergency floodgates for the first time in nearly four decades, purposefully inundating farmlands and homes in Louisiana's Cajun country to drain the swelling
