With Recent Rain Are Shreveport Area Lakes About to Flood?
Obviously, most of the Arklatex has been hammered over the last few days with some heavy rains, but just how much flooding of our area lakes will we see due to these rains?
In an interview with KEEL News, Michael Berry, Senior Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, says they are somewhat concerned about the rising levels and possible flooding of Cross Lake, Wallace Lake and Lake Bistineau.
As you can tell from the photo below, Cross Lake is already becoming an issue. Listener, Pete Daniels of Blanchard, shot this photo just after lunch on Sunday, January 29 at the Richard Fleming Park on Cross Lake, and you can see that the water level is extremely high nearly making the boat launches at the park unusable.
In the graph below from the USGS, Cross Lake is at 172.94 feet above sea level and its normal pool level is 171 feet, so some minor flooding is occurring.
You can also see in this video from Pete Daniels, that the water coming into Cross Lake via Fortney Bayou at Richard Fleming Park as of January 29, is nothing short of ferocious.
At this time, we have had no reports of any flooding related damage, but Shreveport Police posted on their Facebook page today that:
Due to increasingly high water levels, the public boat launches at Cross Lake will be closed until the water levels begin to fall.
Additionally, the National Weather Service is forecasting another possible four inches of rain for the coming week, so this situation could likely worsen. The City of Shreveport is trying to get ahead of that and has now advised that they are handing out sand bags during normal operating hours at the City's Streets and Drainage location on Mansfield Road.
The National Weather Service is also concerned about the rising level of Wallace Lake
Wallace Lake in Southeast Shreveport is currently at 150.15 feet above sea level, but the National Weather Service feels it will likely rise another foot over the next two days. However, even at that level, according to RiverGages.com, it still falls short of the Flood Elevation of 158 feet above sea level.
Lake Bistineau is another area of concern and the graph below shows there is good reason for that:
With Bistineau already at 142.44 feet above sea level and an expected rise to approximately 143 feet, some minor flooding is expected.
For those who might need them, Bossier Parish will have sand bags available at the public works facility at 410 Mayfield from 7:00 am until 3:30 pm weekdays.
Another area lake of concern is Caddo Lake which might see some minor flooding, but it's not likely.
The National Weather Service is also monitoring the level of Red River at Shreveport, which shouldn't be an issue according to the recent data:
And local outdoorsman and property owners are always interested in the rising waters at Toledo Bend which is illustrated in the graph below, and doesn't appear to have much threat of flooding.