NEW ORLEANS, May 15 (UPI) -- A central Louisiana parish issued a mandatory evacuation order Sunday as Mississippi River floodwaters approached from the north, local authorities said.
The order was issued by Don Menard, president of St. Landry Parish, as a surge of water moved south after the opening Saturday of the Morganza Spillway, 45 miles northwest of Baton Rouge and 186 miles upriver of New Orleans.
The evacuation order was only for residents in low-lying areas south of Interstate 10, but Menard's news release was emphatic in its urgency, the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune said.
"By 5 p.m., everyone in the affected areas MUST BE OUT!," the release said.
The Army Corps of Engineers said while the breach could flood 3,000 square miles and affect 25,000 people in Cajun country, it was necessary to protect Baton Rouge and New Orleans from even greater catastrophic damage.
Corps officials said the first opening of the spillway since 1973 would affect the Louisiana parishes of Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, Iberville, St. Mary and Terrebonne.
So far, the seasonal flooding has covered at least 3 million acres of land in the central and southern United States, much of it agricultural, CNN said.
