Why did we flood and why are we in danger of flooding again? Below is a link to a Google map of the entire LA watershed area and instructions on how to view, use, and share information. Below that is a detailed overview/explanation. Huge thanks to Harold Schoeffler, Brent Logan and Dave Dixon for putting this amazing resource together.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=15cWxmgh6ixhWlBllyGM50nNdMEro3xK0&ll=30.17933903829165%2C-92.03220266613671&z=16
INSTRUCTIONS
TECHE-VERMILION WATERSHED MAP (Google My Maps)
EXPLANATION
This map is an interactive map of the above watershed that runs on Google Earth. It’s intent is to give you (everyone) a virtual visual top down overview of the watershed which can be edited and shared for education of all parties involved. The “Google My Maps” app is available free on the web. You will find instructions below on how to view this MyMap on Microsoft and Apple Computers and MS Pads as well as Iphone and Ipad. You do not have to have a Gmail or Google Account, just the app and an internet or cell phone connection. It will share with any email system. I have tested several email accounts as @yahoo, @lusfiber, @gmail, etc.
You can drill down the same as on Google Earth. The structures, waterways, and retention areas are marked and outlined. (this is not a perfect process following rivers, levees, and roads) Feel free to view and “SHARE”. You are certainly welcome to build your own “Google My Maps” of our or any watershed, it is free with instructions online but takes a little practice to learn. This map may be “SHARED” by anyone by email link, facebook, pinterest, etc. Anyone may “VIEW” but the “EDIT” feature for this map is controlled by Brent Logan and Dave Dixon of Dredge the Vermilion, Lafayette, LA.
APPLE IPHONE and IPHONE viewing instructions:
1) Download app – “Google Maps”
2) Top left side of screen – select “search here”
3) Select – “Your places”
4) Far right of screen – select “Maps”
{LIST LABELED RESERVATIONS FOLLOWING “””MAPS”””}
5) Select – “Teche-Vermilion Watershed – gates, rivers, and retention areas”
6) You may now view the watershed on your ipad or iphone. I keep my access in my google drive.
7) “SHARE” is available on the left of screen in the maps legend. Feel free to share the viewing.
8) “VIEW MAP LEGEND” located at the bottom of the map. Allows you to read description and more of the items in the watershed. The selections or options are generally in blue letters.
MICROSOFT PAD or SOFTWARE or APPLE COMPUTER
1) search “Google Maps” —- I would assume there is an app for microsoft, I use Apple and there is an app so that I do not have to search”google maps” every time. I had it working normal on Dave’s Microsoft pad, my Ubuntu Linux computer, and my Apple MacAir.
2) https;//maps.google.com
3) select “=” menu
4) select – “Your places”
5) select – “Maps”
6) select – “Teche-Vermilion Watershed – gates, rivers, and retention areas”
7) select – “Open in My Maps” — or google earth.
INSTRUCTIONS END
Google “MyMaps”
Detailed Map Overview – RBL
June, 2020
TECHE-VERMILION WATERSHED – gates, rivers, and retention areas
The Teche-Vermilion Watershed (watershed) consists of water flows and areas of retention from Alexandria to the Gulf. For definition, purposes the watershed is the interactions of river flood waters, rain, tidal, and storm waters and their path or paths to the Gulf of Mexico. This “Google MyMaps” is a visual informational top down “interactive online overview” of the Teche-Vermilion Watershed and it’s primary features of gates, rivers, canals, structures, and natural “retention areas”. It is intended as an overview to educate people in the watershed about our natural water system, it’s inter connectivity, and the flow of flood waters to the Gulf of Mexico. As a volunteer who started looking into the Flood of 2016, my group (DTV-today) began to look over the watershed and figure out how we might help stop the unnecessary flooding of people’s houses and farms. To begin our education, we spoke with anyone who would listen about flood prevention and the watershed. Therefore, this map is to share and educate all the diverse people who must work together to manage over a roughly 400+ square mile watershed. The water primarily flows inside the watershed to the Gulf of Mexico and any chance to let the high or potential high water out of the watershed should be used when and where possible.
PRINCIPLES OF WATER
1) Water flows down hill.
2) Water does not stop at political boundaries – not city limits, not parish lines, not state lines!!!
3) Three types of flooding in Teche-Vermilion Watershed – Rainfall flooding, River flooding being Atachafayla River and Mississippi River, and Tidal flooding from storms, wind, and/or hurricanes.
4) Managing water requires cooperation between local, regional, and state entities and political bodies!
TOP DOWN
1) Red River Locks & Dams (Rapides)
Red River – J. Bennett Johnston Waterway. Starting around 1986, the USACE started staging the Red River for commercial/navigational from the Mississippi River to Shreveport. Five lock and dams have raised the water levels in the Red River for navigational purposes to approximation 20 feet higher at Alexandria. This staging (higher water level) has stopped Bayou Rapides and waters (approximate 100+ square miles of area) to drain their water through the Teche-Vermilion Watershed rather than into the Red River. Of note, the Mayor of Alexandria promised in last election to install $100MM in pumps to pump water into the Red River from Alexandria which had flowed into the Red River until the Red River staging. For all practical purposes, the Red River is the NORTH boundary of theTeche-Vermilion Watershed (see map). We believe these changes to the Red River have dramatically affected waters that must now pass thru the Teche-Vermilion Watershed to the Gulf of Mexico.
2) Bayou Des Glaise gate (Avoyelles)
Bayou Des Glaise gate – this gate is located in Northeast Avoyelles Parish east of Alexandria. The gate was closed by the USACE after the 1973 Flood because the gate had leaked. The water had flowed west to east from Rapides and Avoyelles Parish thru the Bayou Des Glaise gate to Simmesport. Bayou Des Glaise is a former Mississippi River channel and a quite large waterway when compared to the Vermilion River and/or the Teche Bayou (both 2-3 times smaller). We believe this gate would be helpful in extreme high water inside the watershed situations and we would like this gate repaired or replaced as a drain off the top of the watershed. Other than this Gate and the Alexandria Red River Gates (now near unusable) there is no way to drain any water from the Teche-Vermilion Watershed until the waters reach Bayou Courtableau about 60 miles south. From Bayou Courtableau (the bath tub) waters must drain down the Teche and Vermilion River or when available the Henderson swamp (retention).
3) Teche-Vermilion Freshwater District (TVFD-Krotz Springs)
The Teche-Vermilion Freshwater District (teche-vermilion.org) was created in the 1970’s and 1980’s to manage water quality and saltwater intrusion along the Gulf. Teche-Vermilion District holds the water levels higher in Bayou Courtableau so that pumped water can flow upstream to Port Barre where the head waters of the Teche Bayou meets Bayou Courtableau. The water then flow down the Teche Bayou and the Vermilion River. TVFD main function is to manage these water ways for low-water events and not flood prevention. However, it should be noted that TVFD works daily with the USACE at Old River and coordinates pumping with weather situations and coordinates control of gates, water levels, and control structures as Bayou Courtableau gates (USACE), Bayou Darbonne gate (USACE), Bayou Ami gate (TVFD), Ruth Canal gate (TVFD), Keystone Lock & Dam (USACE, St. Martin), Loureauville Canal gate (TFVD) as well as pump operations. TFVD is funded by taxes from Lafayette, Vermilion, Iberia, and St. Martin Parishes. The gates are located in St. Landry Parish and St. Landry parish serves as a board member of TVFD.
4) Bayou Courtableau Gates (Krotz Springs)
Bayou Courtableau (the bath tub) runs from north-east of Washington, LA to the Atachafayla River. In the 1940s, the river was dammed/leveed off from the Atachafayla after the Flood of 1927. These five 10×10 foot USACE controlled gates are located in the west Atachafayla guide levee just south of Krotz Springs. The gates can be opened to let water from the land-side of the west levee to the West Atachafayla Basin just north of the Henderson (natural retention) area or vice-versa depending on water levels. Bayou Courtableau is like a belt at the center of the watershed and the watershed’s main water control feature. Waters from the north of the watershed and the TVFD pumps accumulate here. For Hurricane Barry, water levels were drained down (pumps off) like for five days and reduced water in the lower and upper watershed. For Hurricane Barry, the Vermilion River reached it’s lowest level in 37 years. This bathtub holds considerable water north of the Teche and Vermilion River Basins to meet TVFD mission. When water level in Bayou Courtableau is drained down, the lower water level here opens millions of arce feet of natural retention in low areas, bayous, and waterways north of Bayou Courtableau. In low water situations, the TVFD pumps water for the two basins. In high water/flood situations, the water levels in Bayou Courtableau can create major flood issues, Overflow from Courtableau to Bayou Ami (west guide levee canal) begins at 17 ft elevation. We consider these gates a major tool is our watershed flood control, however it should be noted that there are circumstances which may render the gates useless in a flood. Of note, the USACE reported that the Courtableau gates are not as large as planned and therefore not of sufficient size.
5) Bayou Darbonne Gate (Krotz Springs)
Bayou Darbonne Gate (USACE) is just north of Bayou Courtableau gates and although much smaller serves the same purposes as the Bayou Courtableau gates.
6) Bayou Ami gate (Krotz Springs)
Bayou Ami is actually the Atachafayla west guide levee canal which runs from Avoyelles parish at Louisiana Highway 1 to Lake Fausse Point, St. Mary Parish. A control levee was placed south of Bayou Courtableau as part of TFVD and divides Bayou Ami (west guide canal). TVFD controls a structure/gate (4 ft pipe) which drains from Bayou Courtableau to Bayou Ami. We believe this gate is entirely inadequate and should be enlarged immediately so as to help control flood waters before the water levels in Courtableau reach the 17 foot over flow dam level. This month for the pending Tropical Storm Cristobol’s threat, Bayou Ami was one of the few waterways that had ability to drain water from Bayou Courtableau, however the gate (4 ft pipe) is much too small to be a useful tool for flood control and the gate should be changes and enlarged immediately. St. Landry Parish has requested permits to replace and enlarge this gate.
7) Henderson Lake (St. Martin Parish)
Henderson Lake (natural retention) is best known when one drives over it on I-10. The south area of the West Atachafayla Basin is the Henderson Lake region from which waters from Simmesport and Bayou Courtableau flow. It should be noted in high Atachafayla River flooding this lake fills with backed up flood waters. When the river is at flood levels, this potential natural retention area may not be available for land-side water flow thru the Courtableau and Darbonne Gates. This west basin containment levee runs from Mansura, LA (LA 1) to Simmesport to Butte La Rose to Henderson back to Mansura. There is an open gap in the levee at the Henderson Gates just south of Butte La Rose which allows high Atachafayla River water to back up in a natural retention manner until it can drain out the Atachafayla at Morgan City or Wax Lake Outlet.
8) Henderson Gates (Butte La Rose, St. Martin Parish)
The Henderson Gates at Butte La Rose were initially put in as a water control structure to allow the construction of I-10 and oil exploration in Henderson in the 1970s. The gates are overflow gates and are in desperate need of repair or removal. At certain water levels, the flood waters from Henderson and Bayou Courtableau overflow these gates. In preparation for Tropical Storm Cristobal 2020, St. Martin Parish opened these gates to lower water levels in Henderson to allow Bayou Courtableau to flow into Henderson.
9) Lake Fausse Point (natural retention, Iberia Parish)
Lake Fausse Point retention is a low lake/swamp area on the land-side of the Atachafayla West Basin levee. The USACE when constructing the Atachafayla levees after the flood of 1927 left this huge area for water retention for cities along the Bayou Teche – Breaux Bridge, St. Martinville, New Iberia, and Jeanerette (to name a few). Lake Fausse drains from it’s south end thru the Baldwin Canal across the Intracoastal Waterway into the East Vermilion Bay. This drain is completely obstructed at this time at the Jaws in St. Mary Parish.
10) Keystone Lock and Dam (USACE, St. Martin Parish)
The Keystone is located just south of Saint Martinville and north of New Iberia. The overflow lock and dam was built in 1911. The structure was originally built to allow Teche Bayou barge traffic to the sugar mill in Breaux Bridge. At this time, the structure is not in use and Teche waters overflow the structure on their way thru New Iberia and Jeanerette to the Gulf. We believe this structure should be removed. We believe that the Loureauville Canal locks can control the Teche Bayou water levels.
11) Loureauville Canal Lock (TFVD)
The Loureauville Canal connects the Teche Bayou above New Iberia to Lake Fausse Point retention. The locks are monitored and controlled by TFVD.
12) The Jaws (St. Mary Parish)
The Jaws are the point where the Baldwin/Charenton Canal connects at west Vermilion Bay. This outlet is silted up and barely one foot deep. I have stood in this channel in 2017 aground in a small 15 ft outboard boat. It needs immediate dredging and will likely need a reoccurring maintenance dredging to allow more rapid drainage of flood waters to the Gulf from Lake Fausse Point. NOAA offered to sponsor for CPRA funding as NOAA handles marsh terrace restoration on both sides of this outlet. We believe that the flood waters flow over 30 miles west down the Intracoastal Canal (GIWW) to Iberia and Vermilion Parishes rather than exiting to Vermilion Bay, Gulf of Mexico at the Jaws resulting in higher water levels in areas like the Port of Iberia and the Port of Delcambre.
13) Rivers – Levees
The rivers and levees throughout the watershed are marked as water ways from Alexandria to the Gulf of Mexico. The Vermilion River at this time is silted up at points in Lafayette Parish to two feet deep and needs immediate dredging. Bayou Ami has some spots which need dredging also. Most rivers/bayous need maintenance snagging and clearing operations from Alexandria to the Gulf to allow the steady flow of water thru the watershed to the Gulf. As the water drains in all these parishes thru which flood waters flow, these waterways must be maintained at normal levels (dredging) so that flood waters can move more efficiently into retention areas until the waters can drain to the Gulf of Mexico — water flows down hill –- water principle #1. Alexandria to the Gulf whether we like it or not. Bayou Vermilion District in Lafayette Parish seems to do a good job of keeping the Vermilion River thru Lafayette Parish. Clearing of trees and debris which create plugs in rivers/bayous especially in floods are necessary annual maintenance issues. We believe parishes may need to get equipment and create sharing agreements because no parish can afford equipment for a few weeks a year job.
14) Retention Areas (natural)
The map has numerous “natural retention” areas (blue-green highlights) which can hold millions of acre feet of water in a flood event. If a good management plan and some upgrades or constructions at points in the Teche-Vermilion Watershed, the flood waters can be moved and these retentions can store/hold water to prevent flooding of homes and farms. In general, these natural retention areas are low swampy areas that our watershed is blessed with and can be managed to store flood waters until the flood waters can drain. These areas include Henderson Lake, Lake Fausse Point area, I-49 areas, Thistleway area, Bayou Courtableau areas, Lake Martin, and Cypress Island Swamp and river channels and wetlands throughout the watershed (think of the possibilities).
15) Point Au Fer reef (replacement)
We would suggest that to understand this project and benefits that everyone go to YouTube and watch “The Great Wall of Louisiana”. This video is the USACE building of a steel wall across the MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) which was a major contributing issue to the flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. We are not suggesting a Steel Wall to protect Vermilion Bay and our marshes, however we are suggesting the replacement of the Point Au Fer reef (concrete/shell construction). In the 1960’s and 1970’s this huge shell reef was dredged out for highway building material not realizing the impact this reef would have on flooding throughout Vermilion Bay. The reef across the bay from Marsh Island to roughly Wax Lake outlet would close off the huge opened side of Vermilion Bay as the original reef did and the water depth is about 10 feet deep across this area. We believe the reef replacement will reduce tidal surges in all storms and hurricanes significantly which tides affect waters up and throughout the watershed. Tidal reductions we believe will happen all around Vermilion Bay such as the Port of St. Mary, Port of Iberia, Port of Delcambre, Port of Abbeville, Intracoastal City, the Vermilion River, Teche Bayou, Lake Fausse Point, and Cypremore Point. We further believe when complete this project would reduce flood water levels and would improve water quality, fisheries, and wetlands throughout the Teche-Vermilion Watershed. I worked on the dredges in the 1970s that removed these reefs. I now realize how important the reefs were to our area and it’s watershed, flood protection, wetlands, and fisheries!!
16) Teche-Vermilion Watershed Boundaries and Parishes
The Teche-Vermilion Watershed’s NORTH boundary is the Red River, the EAST boundary is the Atachafayla River to the Gulf. The SOUTH boundary is the Gulf of Mexico. The WEST boundary is a ridge from Rapides Parish to approximately Abbeville. The west boundary is also a ridge between the Teche-Vermilion Rivers basin and the Mermenatu River basin. The watershed west boundary waters are relative separate except for man made modifications and some small natural waterways which can drain water either way across the high ground between these two basins. A particular problem of our watershed is the southern boundary being the Gulf of Mexico and it’s tidal effects on our waterways especially in storm or hurricane events. Parishes affected and in the Teche-Vermilion Watershed – top down – Rapides, Evangeline, Avoyelles, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, St. Mary, Lafayette, and Vermilion.
17) Additional Map Content, Purpose, and Comments (the pile)
Around 1993 to 1995, the USACE had formed an Alexandria to the Gulf committee to work on solutions. At that time, computer technology like Google Earth, Google MyMaps did not exist. This technology with the internet allows people to share information and visualize the watershed and ideas for solutions. Not one parish has the ability on it’s own to solve all the watershed flood problems and it is imperative that all the parishes in the watershed work together on developing a plan and prioritize engineering/construction/maintenance ideas and solutions with input from every parish and city! It is critical for everyone to realize that modifications and maintenance neglect throughout the watershed over the last 70 years or so have dramatically affected the water inside Teche-Vermilion Watershed. In this historical time window the frequency of flooding has quadrupled and although many want to blame climate change, there are more closely correlated modifications and maintenance neglect issues over these years. Every parish and governmental entity from Federal, State, and local entity must recognize that any modification they make can have dramatic impacts in other areas of the watershed.
A unique feature of the Teche-Vermilion Watershed is that it’s drain is ultimately the Gulf of Mexico which creates a tidal component along the coast which must be considered in times of hurricanes and major rain storms. Furthermore, for water quality, we have created a massive water holding area mid watershed that can have very adverse conditions in storms and flooding which complicates every parish in the watershed’s flooding parameters.
Proof of Concept: Our group refers to the proof of concepts efforts beginning the week before Hurricane Barry’s landfall in 2019 as we were working with GOSEP, TVFD, St. Martin Parish, USACE, and other entities, the water level in the Vermilion River was the lowest it had been in 37 years which likely saved a number of homes from flooding and a very limited effect on our watershed. However, conditions were favorable, governments cooperated, and there were many tools (options, gates) available in our tool chest. Cristobol coordination went well however river levels and tidal levels limited the available tools in our watershed tool shed. For this reason, we would like to have every tool sharpened and available when needed in our tool shed — rivers, gates, retentions, etc –- so that we can minimize or prevent another $200,000,000 flood like 2016 in our watershed. This – we also refer to as a written management plan with ALL parishes having input.
Bayou Des Glaise gates is the only Northern Watershed gate which can relieve the Red River staging and reduce sending water south. For appx 60 miles up I-49 there is no way to drain off flood waters until the waters reach Bayou Courtableau. Red River modifications in the 1980s and 1990s, we believe have increased the water that the Teche-Vermilion must now handle and our frequency of flooding correlates with these changes.
Waterway Capacity – Bayou Des Glaise and Bayou Courtableau are former Mississippi River channels and are huge when compared to the Vermilion and Teche and their ability to move flood waters. These two rivers/bayous are each about twice to three times the size of the Vermilion River and the Teche Bayou. It is like draining a bathtub thru two straws. Pay attention to the sizes of water areas and gates, not just their names, you cannot put a size six shoe on a size thirteen foot and vice-versa!
Cool discoveries and working together ideas: Well the Rapides Red River gate may not help much with drainage after the Red River staging, but now the same gates can allow water INTO the watershed to help farmers and improve water quality in low water conditions. Another benefit of this Red River water is that it eventually accumulates in Bayou Courtableau which may reduce TVFD pumping in low water situations. The Courtableau gates depending on water conditions may be used to let water out and let water into the watershed which again might reduce TVFD pumping and better manage water quality in the Basin and the rivers. My guess is that with cooperation we will find many more beneficial ideas in our watershed.
These maps are just a small portion of the work done by our Dredge the Vermilion (DTV) group. Please remember this is the BIG PICTURE the entire watershed. In consults with many entities, we have many smaller projects and ideas from all areas of our Teche-Vermilion Watershed and several are way along in the process such as the removal of spoil levees on the Cypress Island swamp which are impeding water flow for Lafayette and St. Martin Parish on the Vermilion River and the Bayou Teche. The dredging of the Joe Daige Canal by St. Martin parish to help drain/move water in/thru the Cypress Island swamp. The Henderson group efforts to break-up pipeline levees in the Atchafayla Basin which impede flood waters but also dramatically affect water qualities and fisheries in the Basin.
I am sure you can understand why too many cooks can mess up a good gumbo. However, feel free to make your own maps if you are unhappy with this map and/or our comments. I would believe there should be a central point of these maps and details and different levels of details can be done on various areas and levels of each watershed so that sharing and solutions will rapidly move forward before homes are flooded again. This sharing we hope that everyone can communicate and discuss with locals residents and parties features on the watershed and how flooding is and maybe addressed!! All anyone needs is a modern cell phone, pad, computer, desktop, or laptop to link to these Google MyMaps – each party can view while discussing. You we believe will have a very visual method of understanding the links we all share in our watershed. Most people have used Google Earth and these maps operational features are just as simple. Best of luck!