Spillway will open on Friday

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open 20 bays of the Bonnet Carré Spillway Friday after the Mississippi River was forecast to rise to flood stage at New Orleans next week.

The corps said Thursday that as many as 105 of the flood structure's 350 bays could be eventually opened to relieve pressure on levees further down the river.

According to the National Weather Service, the Mississippi River is forecast to rise to 17 feet at the Carrollton gauge by Wednesday, April 2. The river is expected to remain above 15 feet through the end of April.

Friday will mark the fifth time in five years that the flood control structure has been opened. Before 2011, the spillway had only been opened on average once every decade.

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