Reply #16: Most likely yes...

[hootinholler]

It changes course all the time. In the late 1800s people would help it cut across a loop-back by digging a ditch and waiting for a flood.

Will it bypass N.O.? who knows, but that's an awful lot of water headed upstream. If if stalls before it hits the St. Lawrence basin or the Eastern Continental Divide, then guess where all that water drains.

WWL-tv had an expert who was talking about record stages on the Miss as the storm arrives. Folks, flood stages on the Mississippi have been measured for what, (my guess) 200 years?

I think that most of the delta could be underwater for 2-3 weeks. Once submerged, the channel will go where ever it wants to. I doubt seriously that the water in N.O. is going to suddenly dry up, but, it would be beneficial in the long term for the safety of the city if the main flow turned away from N.O.

-Hoot