2011 Mississippi River Spring Floods

[HelmutVII]

_ Were the pumps turned on for the Vermilion River, or is all the water coming up from the Gulf? _

It looks like they are pumping Teche Vermilion fresh water diversion like crazy. I'm thinking the Keystone locks between St. Martinville and New Iberia are not bypassing as much as they normally do because the Bayou Teche in St. Martinville is very high. Last I checked there is a 7.5 foot difference in elevation across the Keystone locks but I don't know if that is normal.

The pumps are 1.75 miles north of Krotz Springs on the Atchafalaya river. There is a canal that goes directly west to the Bayou Courtableau and which then flows to the Teche at Port Barre. The Teche and Vermilion are connected by the Ruth Canal between Breaux Bridge and Parks. The canal flows east just north of Lake Martin and connects to the Vermilion River just upstream of the Lake Martin Highway.

With is being as dry as it has been the Vermilion would be very low right now. It appears to be bank full.

[HelmutVII]

_ Lake Fausse Point was reopened on Friday. And the Butte La Rose road off of I-10 along the levee is also opened all the way thru Butte La Rose...then turning towards the pontoon bridge. It is then closed at the park, which is halfway to the bridge. There is water over the road there, so it will stay closed for a while yet.

igeaux.mobi _

Looks like you are looking for a place to fish.

[CajunRed]

Looks like you are looking for a place to fish.

Ha...I'm always looking for fishing spots. Growing up, I often fished on the river and out of Bayou Benoit...but for the last 15 years, I have fished Henderson Lake exclusively (outside of making a trip to Toledo Bend once or so a year).

igeaux.mobi

[NewsCopy]

Wildlife, such as deer and the threatened Louisiana black bear, could take a hit ... director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette. “Floods, in general, are very beneficial to wetlands on the coast.”

The rest of the story

[CajunRed]

At 3:55 on Sunday afternoon, the water level in Henderson Lake has dropped to 19.99 feet. First time below 20...and dropping at the rate of .10 feet per day.

The residents and business owners of Henderon Lake and Butte La Rose have dodged a HUGE bullet.

igeaux.mobi

[NewsCopy]

Robert Twilley, vice president for research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a state wetlands expert, said major outlets should be placed along the river system at locations like Davis Pond in Barataria Bay and along the Gulf Intracoastal ...

The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers closed another gate on the Morganza spillway north of Baton Rouge on Thursday as the threat from severe flooding of the Mississippi River diminished.

Now only one gate on the structure that diverts Mississippi water into the Atchafalaya basin remains open, said Rachel Rodi, a corps spokeswoman. At the height of the flood, 17 gates on Morganza were open.

Rodi said the Bonnet Carre spillway, which lies much closer to New Orleans, remained wide open.

Meanwhile, the corps has five dredges working to keep the river open where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Shipping restrictions are in place there and mariners have complained that the corps is not doing enough to keep ships moving through the passes quickly.

The rest of the story

KATC

[CajunRed]

Hats off to the Corps. They handled this as well as I think it could possibly have been handled.


igeaux.mobi

[Trigger74]

In the spring of 1975, my 1st year with Corps, I had 1st one, then two and ended up with 4 dredges in the Southwest pass. Three contractor dredges from Bean Dredging, with the CF Bean, larges pipeline dredge at that time being the key dredge. The 4th dredge was a Corps owned hopper dredge. We had to keep the channel at 55 ft. Wonder what the limits are today?

[RaginFan2]

_ In the spring of 1975, my 1st year with Corps, I had 1st one, then two and ended up with 4 dredges in the Southwest pass. Three contractor dredges from Bean Dredging, with the CF Bean, larges pipeline dredge at that time being the key dredge. The 4th dredge was a Corps owned hopper dredge. We had to keep the channel at 55 ft. Wonder what the limits are today? _

According to a USA Today article in the Sunday Advertiser yesterday, the Corps is supposed to maintain Southwest Pass at 750 ft. wide and 45 ft. deep. It also said that recently one section had shrunk to 180 ft. in width and that the dredging operation is not keeping up with the amount of sediment being deposited. It further said that the Corps' dredging budget dropped from $117M last year to $74M this year.

[biged05]

_ Hats off to the Corps. They handled this as well as I think it could possibly have been handled.


igeaux.mobi _

Thanks Red!!

[Turbine]

_ Thanks Red!! _

Red is right, truely amazing job.

Give cred where cred is due.

Thanks

[CajunRed]

Water level on at Lake Pelba (part of Henderson Lake) is now below 19 feet...18.97 as of 11:00 today. Water continues to drop at the rate of 1 foot per week.

Good news with hurricane season upon us.

[NewsCopy]

The research vessel Acadiana rolls with the waves in the Gulf of Mexico, 10_kilo_metres off the coast of Louisiana. Scientists and crew members scan the murky waters. Suddenly, triggered by an acoustic signal, a cluster of bright-yellow buoys comes ...

The rest of the story

[HelmutVII]

Just in case anybody is interested this is a link to power point presentation that BRIEFLY describes what is necessary to do an analysis of open channel flow in a river

http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/HEC/FEMA/...0Mechanics.ppt


It's much more than plugging in values into a formula.