Latest Weather Blog
$30 million federal project could help 90,000 people deal with flooding near Bayou Manchac
Related Story
IBERVILLE PARISH — Officials are spending $30 million in federal funds to improve Bayou Manchac and realign Ward Creek, and parish officials say the project will reduce flooding in the area.
Fishermen like Christian Sexton love it when the water stays consistent.
"After it rains, we see a significant change in water quality," Sexton said. "It makes it hard to pinpoint fish, get them on a pattern, things like that."
That is why he frequents Alligator Bayou Boat Landing, an area near the point where three parishes meet: Iberville, East Baton Rouge and Ascension.
"The Manchac side gets higher than this side. Whatever they got to do, they need to do it," Sexton said.
Bayou Manchac stretches approximately 18 miles and is classified as a Louisiana Historic and Scenic River.
"There's protections on what you can and cannot do, which restricts for us, local government, maintenance on the bayou," Iberville Parish Director of Economic Development and Environmental Departments John Clark said.
Clark works for Iberville Parish's government, but also serves as the president of the Amite River Basin Commission, the group heading up efforts to get Bayou Manchac and other waterways cleared and dredged.
"We just want to take things out, back to its natural bottom and natural width," Clark said.
Last June, the governor signed two different bills to aid the effort. One bill temporarily suspended restrictive measures in the Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act for Bayou Manchac. The second bill gave flexibility to the commission when it comes to making watershed management rules to address flood risks involving current and future development — in short, measures that Clark says are needed to get actual work done.
"10 years ago, 2016, really kind of put a magnifying glass on this, it flooded like crazy," he said.
Clark noted that whenever there is a major rain event, the area floods.
The water from Bayou Manchac should naturally flow into the Amite River, but Clark believes that because there is so much sediment and debris, the water can get backed up, causing levels to rise.
"There's like a plug in Bayou Manchac, that's holding all this water back," Clark said.
Clark estimates that once completed, this clearing project could help as many as 90,000 people. That is why Fred Raiford, EBR's Director of Transportation and Drainage, said the project needs to be done.
"Water knows no boundaries, we know that!" Raiford said.
Raiford serves on the commission as well. He told WBRZ that an element of this same project also focuses on Ward Creek and creates a new outlet for it to flow in the natural direction of Bayou Manchac, something that Ward Creek struggles with when it floods.
"It's actually doing this, when it comes in, it's actually draining upstream," Raiford said.
In other words, the realignment would allow Ward Creek to flow into Bayou Manchac, instead of fighting against it and flooding the area.
Raiford said the project must now go before a selection board, led by East Baton Rouge Parish, which will choose an engineering firm. Then, Raiford says, the plan must go to the Metro Council for approval.
"At the end of the day, we've got to get this project, this $30 million project, going, and help this water get out of here," Clark said.
Clark and Raiford said it will be at least two years before people could see construction begin on Bayou Manchac.
To read the master plan, click here.
News
