ARCHIVE MATERIAL
I am currently researching the history of the Amite river and Bayou Manchac.
Soon I will have a history page in the links area, and all historical information that
anyone would send will be helpful, I can not promise that I will publish everything
but I will try to put as much verifiable information on the page as I can..
PLEASE, send me anything you can to amiterivernews@cox.net
credit will be given in footnotes following each piece, so if you want to see you name
on a certain story, include your name, email, address, or phone number.
I WILL NOT PUBLISH ANYONE'S EMAIL, ADDRESS, OR PHONE NUMBER .
I only need this information for so that I can get in touch with you to verify the story and
to make sure that you want credit for the article.
Thanks, L.A. "Pokey" Delaroderie
Added 3/9/2003
The Comite River Diversion Canal., another waste of our hard earned tax dollars.
This project will not, and I repeat not, help lower the water levels on the Amite river, it will lower the water levels on the upper Comite by as much as three feet, but this only applies north of the canal itself. The lower Comite River is controlled by the water levels in the Amite River. As rain water fills the Comite River it also fills the Amite River but the Amite has a much larger area to drain and therefore a higher flow. The Amite pushes the water in the Comite back up river as it comes down from the north, this causes the back water flooding in north Baton Rouge, Baker and the northern part of the parish. The canal will only aid draining the water north of the canal but will not help in controlling the water coming from the Amite.
The Amite River is the problem not the Comite. So how do you fix the problem?
You start by moving the water out of the lower Amite. If you have no water in the lower Amite then the water in the upper Amite, and the Comite has a place to go rather than backing up and flooding your house.
Facts that the the Amite River Basin Commission either will not or does not care to look at:
The span at Florida Street bridge is 1100 feet, the span at Interstate 12 is 1440 feet, the span at Port Vincent is 208 feet. What does this mean? It means that all of the water that flows under Florida Street and Interstate 12 backs up at Port Vincent. This is like pouring water into a funnel, no matter how much you put in the top only so much can flow out of the bottom.
To fix the problem, you make a larger channel for the water to flow in on the lower Amite. First you build a bridge at Port Vincent, the reason that the bridge that is now there is so small is because it is a "Draw bridge". Once upon a time there was barge and large boat traffic on the Amite River. There were also paddle wheelers before they built the Mississippi River levees in 1932 to 1936 which blocked passage up Bayou Manchac from The Mississippi down the Amite, across the lakes and into New Orleans and out into the Gulf of Mexico. (sorry about the history lesson)
First the bridge at Port Vincent needs to have a span large enough to equal the flow coming from the interstate plus the flow from Jones Creek, Bayou Manchac, Greys Creek, Redman Lake, and a host of other small streams and ditches. Second you build a "spillway" so that the water has another channel to flow into when it gets high. ( a smaller version of the one just north of New Orleans, The Bonnie Carrie Spillway) The spillway could be built from the Florida Street bridge to the interstate bridge where the span to the east of the main channel could be used as part of the spillway without having to build a new bridge there, saving about 14 million dollars. Next you dig a series of spillways across the big bends in the river for the water to flow in when it gets high enough. this would give the water another channel to flow into, reducing the height of the water by as much as 50 percent or about 10 feet at Denham Springs, 5 Feet at Bayou Manchac Point and 4 feet at Port Vincent. This would virtually eliminate flooding in East baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes.
This proposal would retain the natural flow of the Amite River, and not disrupt any of the existing natural wildlife habitats, or cause any significant environmental impact to the adjacent streams, wooded areas, lakes, bayous, or wetland areas.
The cost would be about equal to or slightly lower than the Comite River Diversion Canal, because the price of the land would be less expensive and the relocation of highways would not be necessary.
Why not do this and end flooding all together rather than wasting our hard earned tax dollars?
A little common sense from our government would go a long way in restoring our faith in government.
L.A. "Pokey" Delaroderie
added 3-11-2003
Page Two
"To The Point" covers the Amite River, now lets move on to Bayou Manchac.
Bayou Manchac (this will stir up a hornets nest) is the main drainage channel for the Northern part of Ascension the southern part of East Baton Rouge and most of Iberville Southern East Baton Rouge is the area South of Choctaw and west of Airline Hwy.
This area is roughly the same size as the area drained by the Comite River, so why are we spending120 million on an area that has less than one tenth of the population If you want to do some real flood relief, then lets put the money where it will do the most good for the dollar.
Facts: prior to 1932-36 Bayou Manchac flowed into the Mississippi and into the Amite It flowed into the Mississippi when the Amite was flooding and into the Amite when the Mississippi was flooding, that kept the channel cleaned out and like I stated in "To The Point" allowed large boat traffic to use the waterway.
Well, the government put an end to that by building the levees along the Mississippi, I am not blaming the feds, at the time it was the right thing to do, but now we understand hydraulics a lot better.
Now, to solve the problem.
First, 3 bridges have to be removed and rebuilt. Airline Hwy (U.S.61.) The bridge is to narrow and the pilings catch all of the trash that flows under it backing up the water. Interstate 10, the same applies to this bridge.
Now we get to the real problem of the bridges, Perkins road (La. 427) .This bridge is about 15 feet to low, you drive down into a "hollow" to get to this bridge, so everything stacks up against the bridge and holds back all of the water trying to flow under it and the result is most of the water flows over it in a medium sized flood.
All of these bridges hold back a significant amount of water when it rains so everything just backs up south of LSU. The funny thing about this is, the oldest bridge, at Jefferson Hwy. (La. 73) is high enough and the span is wide enough not to cause a problem, maybe because it was designed before the levees, and they took the barge and boat traffic that used it at the time into consideration.
Even if you redo these bridges it still does not fix all of the problem. Once again the Amite is the problem Bayou Manchac flows backward when the Amite is in flood, (it really does flow backwards) something that the Amite River basin people do not know because they have never been on the Amite River, (ask them, I did) Next thing that you have to do is tear down the control structure at Spanish lake that blocks the bayou from flowing
Now, this is the part that will get the most resistance from the people that do not understand the way that nature intended for this river system to work.
Most of the people that are alive today have no idea that we, (man) changed the way the bayou flows.
Then you have to widen the bayou to its NATURAL size all the way to the Mississippi river and build a pumping station that pumps the bayou into the Mississippi when the water is up on the Amite and Bayou Manchac, and from theMississippi into the bayou when the water is down, I know this is feasible because every drop of water that falls in New Orleans is pumped out over the levees and into the lake or the river. What is needed is a real pumping station like the Metairie Pumping Station in Metairie La. Not like the Mickey Mouse one we have on the River Road south of the "new" bridge. This will keep the channel clear for the water to flow through.
Last you have to maintain this system (yes you have to spend money on maintenance). I know this is a foreign concept to the DOTD as is evidenced by our road system. Cutting the grass is really all that it would take to keep this thing working (but which of our buddies will get the contract, and how much will I get in kickbacks, just a little south Louisiana humor) Just pay Gulf States Thieves their pound of flesh for the electricity and cut the grass that is all it would take.
These solutions are too simple for the people that are supposed to look out for us, it just
totally escapes them, but when you sit behind a desk and only look at maps drawn by people 30 years
ago, you have no clue
I am really frustrated by the lack of common sense that is exercised by our public officials and my apologies to
those that this offends, but if the shoe fits......
Once again, I welcome your comments L.A. "Pokey" Delaroderie
Just a little footnote.
Did you know that in 1867 and 1868 that the Corps of Engineers had plans to "Render these channels (Bayou Manchac and the Amite River) navigable for first class steamboats". This plan was done under the direction of Brig. Gen. M.D. McAlester, Maj. of Engineers. I have copies of the plans and maps that were used in planning this channel dredging. The total cubic yards that were to be dredged was 9,349,962. This was in 1868 and was to be done with picks, shovels and horse drawn wagons. I will gladly send you copies of the maps if you would like to have a look at them
Just drop me an Email @
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