Levee chief: Red River flooding won't have much impact here

Though the Atchafalaya River is slightly higher than it usually is this time of year due in part to the Red River’s high levels, the Atchafalaya’s levels would have to rise at least another foot to cause concerns for area officials, St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said.
As of this morning, the Atchafalaya in Morgan City was at 5.56 feet, and the projected forecast showed the river staying relatively flat through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The Atchafalaya River’s normal level for this time of year is around four feet, Matte said.
Matte believes the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City is probably seeing some of the effects of the Red River’s high water, “but it’s not causing any problems for us,” he said.
In an article in Tuesday’s edition of The Advocate, according to the National Weather Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state homeland security officials said the Red River’s high waters were not expected to have much effect on river levels to the south.
The Atchafalaya would have to rise at least to six feet and be approaching 6.5 feet before officials would have any high water concerns, for example, along Front Street in Morgan City, Matte said.
Flood stage is six feet for the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City, according to the National Weather Service.
Flood stage is the point at which the river would leave its natural banks but does not account for the man-made levees that line its banks, The Advocated reported.
Matte expects the Atchafalaya River to continue to stay where it’s at for a while, he said.
Last week the rising Red River caused flooding in neighborhoods, RV parks and farmland around Shreveport. As of Tuesday, the high waters in northeast Louisiana were receding, The Advocate reported.
Even though 200,000 cubic feet of water per second is traveling through the Red River, the Atchafalaya River, which receives all the Red River’s flow, has much greater capacity, The Advocate reported.
The Atchafalaya’s depth and breadth is much larger than the Red River’s, the article said. The Old River Control Structure ensures a 70-30 split of water flow between the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya rivers, the article said.
Water may rise on the Atchafalaya, but the rise isn’t expected to seriously threaten levees, The Advocated reported.
Even adding all of the Red River’s high water flows to the Atchafalaya’s wouldn’t push the river to flood stage, The Advocate reported.
Officials were also watching heavy rain expected in the Missouri and Ohio river valleys and Tropical Storm Bill, which made landfall on the Texas coast, to see the effects those factors may have on the Red River, the article said.
Once the Mississippi River water level in New Orleans reaches 11 feet, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins its Phase 1 flood fight, which means the corps schedules regular levee inspections, Matte said.
In March, the corps began the Phase 1 flood fight after the Mississippi River reached 11 feet in New Orleans. Then in May, the water receded below 11 feet, and the Corps of Engineers suspended those flood fight measures, Matte said.
About a week later, the Mississippi River rose above 11 feet again so the flood fight inspections were reinstituted. However, when the Mississippi River first topped 11 feet again, the Atchafalaya was below 5 feet so the corps hadn’t extended the flood fight inspections to the Atchafalaya River, Matte said.
Since that time, the Atchafalaya River did go over 5 feet, which brought with it periodic levees inspections by the Corps of Engineers, Matte said.
“Five (feet) is not an area of concern for us, but it is one of those targets that kicks in a little extra surveillance,” Matte said.
Due to the river levels, levee district officials are delaying repairs to some levee slides on the west end of St. Mary Parish, Matte said.