Morgan City, Louisiana (CNN) -- Residents in Louisiana's Atchafalaya River basin packed up treasured possessions and scrambled to build makeshift levees Monday as federal authorities diverted more water their way from the swollen Mississippi. "We just moved in here, and now we're in the process of moving everything out," said Jake Nolan, of the town of Krotz Springs. But he added, "I have no choice. If not, I'm going to lose everything." Krotz Springs, with a population of about 1,300, is now in the path of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water now entering the Atchafalaya basin every second since the weekend opening of the Mississippi's Morganza Spillway. The controlled release succeeded in dropping projected flood levels for New Orleans and Baton Rouge -- but that was little consolation to those living along the Atchafalaya, which parallels the Mississippi through southern Louisiana.
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NEW: 15 of 125 Morganza Spillway gates are now open
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Residents scramble to protect homes in the Atchafalaya Basin
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Areas of Louisiana lowlands are being flooded to spare New Orleans and Baton Rouge
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"We just moved in here, now we're ... moving everything out, resident says
The weather service predicted the Mississippi River will crest at 45 feet in @placeholder, the Louisiana capital, on Tuesday.