Source: Fox 12 Boise -- Read Full Story

The rain-swollen Mississippi River is still rising in Louisiana but officials expect the state's levees will hold. The Army Corps of Engineers is closely watching levees, amid forecasts that the river will crest in New Orleans at 17 feet sometime next week. The levees are designed to contain at least 20 feet of water. The corps could decide by Tuesday whether to open a spillway about 30 miles north of New Orleans. The spillway acts as a safety valve to ease stress on the levees. It was last opened in 1997, the last time river level forecasts were this high.