John McPhee's 1989 book "The Control of Nature" has a long section on the work the United States Corps of Engineers did to try to control the flow of the Mississippi. Most of the time it works more or less as designed. But once in while the system can't handle it and the excess is sent down the course of the Atchafalaya river and floods the Atchafalaya Basin all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Also published as a ca. 1987 New Yorker article “Atchafalaya”, (about the Old River Control structure). Fans of Zork and Flood Control Dam No. 3 take note.
