Five days after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a flood control structure, or spillway, onto the Morganza Floodway, water had spread 15-20 miles southward across the Louisiana landscape. As of May 18, 2011, a total of 17 bays on the spillway had been opened, with an estimated 114,000 cubic feet per second flowing out of the Mississippi River and into the floodway. The region had been suffering through a significant drought, so the ground and side waterways have been able to absorb more water than originally anticipated. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) captured this false-color image on May 18, 2011. Clear water is blue, and sediment-laden water is a dull blue-gray. Vegetation is red; the brighter the red, the more robust the vegetation. Gray patches away from the center of the floodway are likely farm fields that have recently been burned or cleared.