With water levels of the Mississippi River slowly decreasing, officials began removing the orange Tiger Dams from Baton Rouge levees Monday.
River levels were recorded at 41.4 feet Monday morning, keeping Baton Rouge under the precautionary flood warning, which is put in place when the river reaches 35.0 feet.
However, the Department of Public Works feels there is no risk of the river overtopping the levees.
Bryan Harmon, deputy director of the Department of Public Works, said the Tiger Dams may take about a week to remove.
“Those were put in place to give us additional freeboard on the levee tops, based on ship traffic and rain events and things that may have changed the crest when it was predicted at 47.5 feet,” Harmon said. “The river is at a level we’re comfortable with, and it is appropriate now to start taking the dams down.”
According to the Baton Rouge government website, freeboard is a term used to describe a factor of safety expressed in feet above a design flood level for flood, protective or control works.
Harmon said the levees should be open to the public once the dams and sandbags are safely removed.
“We are still concerned. There is still risk as the river is still in the major flood stage,” Harmon said. “As the river continues to fall, we will monitor that the stability and integrity of levees is there.”
Harmon said he does not believe there is any increased risk for Baton Rouge during this hurricane season as a result of damage or high water of the river.
Will White, emergency preparedness coordinator with the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, said the office is keeping close contact with the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“We’re keeping a close eye on the Pacific as there is a disturbance that has a 40 percent chance of going to a tropical storm or depression,” White said. “We expect it to go to Florida, but it is not predicted to become a major hurricane, but more of a rain event.”
White said more Baton Rouge roads will open as the Tiger Dams are removed and the water level continues to recede.
Rachel Rodi, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the Corps is performing daily levee inspections in New Orleans in order to catch small issues before they become problems, but they are not concerned about levee failure anywhere in Louisiana.
Rodi said the water crested in New Orleans around May 14, at 16.5 feet at the Carrollton Gauge outside New Orleans. The river was at 15 feet on Thursday.
“We have our flood fight activated. Phase one flood fight begins with inspections when the river reaches 11 feet at the Carrollton Gauge,” Rodi said. “It includes maintaining an activated emergency operation center with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness.”
The Corps also advises mariners navigating waterways on inspecting levees about twice weekly.
Rodi advised Louisiana residents to listen for information from local officials as water levels continue to go down and to develop an emergency plan for hurricane season, which began June 1.
Wesley Daniel, Ph.D. student of biological sciences, said predictions show the water dropping back to lower levels of flood stage around the end of this month.
“On the freshwater side, the additional nutrients released into the river may benefit wildlife,” Daniel said. “However, adding freshwater into the Gulf will kill oyster beds, and some of the other marine organisms might suffer.”
Daniel said people lost crops this season because of floods, but crops will benefit from the nutrients in the future.
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]