The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge

Happy Mardi Gras!  Fat Tuesday in full swing across the South Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama area.  

Check out the Spillway photos and narrative at 

Bonne Carre Spillway 

This is the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, last year in Apr 2018.  Pretty high up the levee steps in downtown Baton Rouge.  The river is currently at 43 feet and the levees are designed to hold 46-47 feet.  Last year the river rose to 46 feet.  Many places had baffles to hold in the water, but in many places outside the city the levee is higher than that.  They expect the river to continue to rise, cresting on March 18, 2018

Here is again in 2016 when it was not a flood year.

Here it is today.  I should have reviewed it and got the same shot this year, maybe this week.  But here is the water just over half way up the letters that spell out Baton Rouge.

Oh wait, I did get a photo of the levee steps.

2019 March. Along with the USS Kidd which is in a floating cradle on the river Batture.  A batture is the land area betweent he river itself and the levee.  we use it for recreational activities but now it is flooded.

As luck would have it, the Santa Maria replica was in town.  It's arrival coincided with the arrival of the Mississippi River Paddle Boat the American Queen.  

You need to check out  the cruise schedule and I will meet you at the dock!

We like to go down there and talk tot he people getting off.  They always have questions about the city and of course, the alligators in Louisiana!  For some reason, people really think we have alligators walking down our streets!

Here you can see all 4 vessels together, the Kidd, the American Queen, the Santa Maria and if you look closely enough you can see the Riverboat Casino the Belle of Baton Rouge.  It has double stacks sticking up just past the Santa Maria.

 And of course, there are Mardi Gras beads in the trees as a result of one of the 30+ parades we have rolling during Mardi Gras.  New Orleans has nothing on us!