The threat continued to worsen, however, and state government officials believed the levees would inevitably break. If the break happened below New Orleans, it would relieve pressure and spare the city from massive flooding. An upstream break, on the other hand, would send a disastrous flood into New Orleans. Despite strenuous objections from people living downstream, Governor O. H. Simpson and his advisors acquiesced to a plea from New Orleans civic leaders to blast a breach in the levee. This would give the flood a shortcut to the sea and drop the river level at New Orleans, at the cost of flooding further south. Engineers chose a westward loop in the river at Caernarvon and began blowing the levee apart on April 29. Over the next ten days they used thirty-nine tons of dynamite to open a channel that released 250,000 cubic feet of water per second from the river. –“Great Flood of 1927,”
Jim Bradshaw

What were the reasons behind Governor Simpson’s decision? Check all that apply.

to help restore a section of the levee
to spare New Orleans from major flooding
to protect the areas south of New Orleans
to cause a breach downstream rather than upstream
to provide the flood with a shortcut to the Gulf of Mexico