This water has travelled five miles to meet Lake Pontchartrain and has not slowed its speed very much since it went through the locks of the Spillway structure.
There is normally a six foot drop from the normally dry land on the left to Lake Pontchartrain on the right of the white water.
Lake Pontchartrain is the outlet for the Bonnet Carre' Spillway. Before levees along the Mississippi River were built, the river automatically overflowed its banks each spring and found its way to Lake Pontchartrain depositing alluvial soil and nutrients along the way.
The River is the highest I have ever seen it and I have lived here for most of my life. This was a rare opportunity http://www.pbase.com/image/134676244.