The River Rises

[Another post from 2011 that never say the pixels of day. This particular flood was in the "hundred year flood" category, perhaps even "thousand year." Before the River crested in Baton Rouge the level had been closed to everyone, even those of us on foot, and there was no grass visible on the river side of the levee.

The Crest was something like 50 feet that left mere inches of free-board at the top of the levee. Was I nervous? You bet I was. My place is 20 to 30 feet below that flood stage, depending on who you believe. If the levee gave way my house would have been 6 to 16 feet UNDER WATER. Not good.

Since then, the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) has been doing a great deal of work on the levee downstream of the LSU campus at Duncan Point. The River runs straight and fast along the western edge of Baton Rouge then takes a turn to the west at Duncan Point. That turn means the River puts an awful lot of hydraulic force on the bank right there and does its best to move the point to the other side of the River, one grain of sand at a time. Of course, when there was 1.625 MILLION cubic feet per second flowing past . . . well . . . it isn't moving one grain at a time.]

So . . .

Here's a series of images that document the rising river between May 4th and May 9th. I hope to keep getting a daily image of the river rise until I can't get up on the levee, allegedly May 20th.

These images were taken looking north along the levee from the trail head on River Road at Skip Bertman Drive.