5:30am 6/19/2021
I would like to thank our team for the proactive activities reducing the risk of a flood in our watershed during this event. While we missed the impact of the storm certain areas in the watershed were in a high risk situation particularly the St. Martin, Lafayette, and Vermilion areas. When we started the Vermilion River at Surrey was at 9.5ft only 0.5ft below flood stage. A large rain event with the river at these high stages could have been devastating to the St Martin Parish Cypress Island Community and residents in Lafayette Parish and potentially residents in Henderson and Vermilion Parish as well as farming operations in the watershed. Our lowering the system water levels worked although the Vermilion is still higher than desired. The report on 6/17 from TVFD is saying water from the north has almost stopped flowing into the Vermilion river from Bayou Teche. This tells us the remaining water in the Vermilion system is in Cypress Island which is draining slowly due to shoaling in the river. Low tides and north winds have also helped drain the system.
We were successful in lowering the Courtableau and Vermilion complexes around 2ft establishing retention for rains related to the storm. Considering the West Atchafalaya basin flood side was pretty high to start, the operation was a success.
Let’s hope that this is the last time this tropical season we are faced with a potential threat of a flood. However, history tells us we need to remain vigilant and ready to act to de-risk the situation as much as possible.
Thanks again for everybody’s support and their help with this .
Dave Dixon
DTV, Inc.
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧
Dredge the Vermilion (DTV) is a non-profit 501(C)(3) setup to inform the public about the need to identify and to perform regional drainage projects in the Teche-Vermilion watershed.
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