The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is now activating a flood plan developed decades ago to prevent catastrophic levee breaches as the Mississippi River rises to record levels. On May 9 the Corps relieved some of the pressure on levees in New Orleans by opening the Bonnet Carre spillway and allowing flood waters from the river to flow through environmentally sensitive recreational areas in Lake Pontchartrain. On May 6 the Corps said that it may open another spillway in Louisiana, the Morganza Floodway, in order to lower a stretch of the river from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Earlier that week the Corps blew out a gap two miles wide in a levee in Missouri to open a spillway, lowering water levels by flooding 130,000 acres of valuable farmland.

The Times-Picayune reported Sunday on its website that the likely opening of Morganza could bring widespread flooding to St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, Iberville, St. Mary, Terrebonne and Pointe Coupee parishes, with some residents along the Atchafalaya Basin already urged to self-evacuate. PIA would like to assist agency members and request if you are an agent in the affected areas that you let us know how we can help. We would like to start collecting alternative contact information for you so that we can assist you in staying in contact with companies, insureds and others like we did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in case that becomes an issue. If you must evacuate, please go to PIA's Web site and enter in your alternative contact information in our Agent Locator so that others may find you. You can reach us by calling the PIA office at 1-800-349-3434 or emailing Jody Boudreaux at jody@piaoflouisiana.com.

Read more on the Mississippi River water levels and possible widespread flooding from the Wall Street Journal here.