The Debate Over How To Control Water

13:48

May 09, 2011

Employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District practice removing and replacing wooden needles at one of the 350 bays of the Bonnet Carre' Spillway in Norco, La., Tuesday, April 5, 2011. (AP)

As Memphis residents brace for record floods, down river, in New Orleans, officials are taking steps to get ready for the surging Mississippi River, opening a spillway that might spare the Big Easy, but would flood several parishes.

We look at how decisions are made to open spillways and control water, with John Barry, who lives in New Orleans. He's author of "Rising Tide: The Great 1927 Mississippi Flood and How It Changed America."

Wall Street Journal: Battling nature on the river

This segment aired on May 9, 2011.