anatomy of a flood

"....and i wonder; still i wonder....."

Blame it on youth, I guess; but when Lydia and I moved back here in northern Lafayette parish on the Bayou Vermilion floodplain 30 years ago, flooding was the last thing on our minds. We'd been living out in the woods in various places since 1978, and by 1982 we were looking to put down roots for good. The joys of living in quasi-wild places apparently outweighed any concerns we might have had regarding flooding. Blissful ignorance.

We moved out here for good in August 1982. We experienced our first flood in January 1983. On that occasion we didn't even know enough to move our vehicles up to the blacktop, and ended up relatively stranded back here with one other intrepid couple for 11 days. We all worked 8 to 5 jobs. Fortunately, one of us was out working when it flooded, so we had one (tiny) vehicle with which to carpool. We scored a small aluminum boat to ferry us from our homes to the blacktop, and there you have it.


Fast-forward 30 years, and the big flood of March 12 represents the 19th flood we've endured back here. The other couple's long gone; and numerous other couples/families have come and gone as well. But we're still here – as Robbie Robertson put it, “...for the crime of having no where to go...” and I guess we've grown used to it by now.


For the record, this past flood was not the worst. Our home itself has only flooded on a couple of occasions: Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and The Great Prairie Basse Flood of May 2004, when we had 14” of water in our living room for 8 miserable days. This time around, the living room caught a little water during the peak of the deluge; but only for an hour or so.


Over the years, I've never had the time to “journal” a flood event back here. But since retiring from the 9 to 5 grind 4 years ago, I did have the time to do so for this flood. Below, then, is “Anatomy of a Flood.” Hope ya'll enjoy.

11 March 2012, 10:00 a.m. – Perusing the weather channel, I saw where one of the Hawaiian Islands had experienced 48” of rain over the past week. This caused a very brief flashback to May 2004 when we received 20-30” here in one week's time.

12 March 2012, 7:00 a.m. – Awakened to heavy rain and near-constant window-rattling thunder. Whoa. This got me to flashing back to May 2004 all over again. Outside our bedroom window, the rain gauge had 1.5” in it, and rising fast.

8:00 a.m. – Nervously drinking coffee with Lydia on the front porch. The back porch is our preferred coffee spot, but the roof overhang is only 4' there – not near enough to keep us dry. Here on the front porch we've got 8' of roof. As the rain poured, neither of us brought up any talk about floods. After coffee I flicked on the weather channel, only to be greeted by a “FLOOD WARNING FOR PARTS OF ACADIA, LAFAYETTE, and ST. LANDRY PARISHES.” Checking the rain gauge, I note that in one hour we've gained 1.25” for a total of 2.75” Now I'm thinking quite a bit about our flood history.

9:50 a.m. – We've got a 5” max on our rain gauge, so I had to go out and empty it, as it has now reached 4.0” and the rain's coming down harder than ever. Praying now.

10:02 a.m. – Taking this picture through the back door, I happen to glance at the rain gauge. It says 1.0” . . . what? In 12 MINUTES?!!?? So it's 5” in 4 hours. Oh my. At this point I realize that our road's going to go under pretty quickly.

going under...

10:20 a.m. – With our total now approaching 7” I know it's time to move our vehicles up to the blacktop. It's a half-mile trip and we'll have to walk back in this deluge. Lydia balks, lobbying to wait until the near-constant lightning/thunder eases up. Sorry. The water ain't waiting on us.

handy-dandy Megalo-mart mesh flood shoes

10:40 a.m. – Returning from the blacktop we were wading through about 6-10” of water on the road. I take a look at the rain gauge 7.75”

10:50 a.m. – As the rain gauge hits 8.25” weather channel radar shows an angry thunderstorm complex sort of disorganizing right over us. It doesn't seem to be moving away, but instead is just growing eastward toward Breaux Bridge and Henderson.

11:05 a.m. – I dejectedly go out to empty the rain gauge again. We've just gotten our first break in the rain in nearly 5 hours. Local weather reports I-49 shut down between Opelousas and Carencro, so it's no uber-surprise when I note water creeping into our living room. Fortunately, the break in the deluge came at just the right time. A few towels and a mop soak up the living room water, and I note that the water in our garage has gone down to almost nothing.

front garden going under....note 7' foot bridge on the move behind the bird bath

2:00 p.m. – After an unsuccessful attempt at a nap (constant window-shaking thunder is back), I hurry out and reposition/stake-down our foot bridge, which has floated off its base. Several floods ago I learned to do this, rather than attempt to yank a few hundred pounds of foot bridge back where it belongs, post-flood. Yes! I am capable of learning, water-logged brain and all . . .

Flashback: January 1983. It must have been like Day 8 of our first flood. Lydia and I are in the boat, and we're enjoying our first “light moment” in, like, 8 days. At this point, she tactfully reminds me that we don't want to look back on this episode with nothing but bad memories, because as time goes on, all you really have that's worth anything is memories. Wow. Oh yeah, Give her a chance, and Lydia can spout some wise stuff . . .

Roseate Spoonbill & friend

And thinking more on it, I realize that some of our most wonderful “nature” moments have come during the floods. Even during the evil May '04 episode, we recorded our first-ever Roseate Spoonbill and Black-bellied Whistling Duck back here.

6:30 p.m. – After a 3-hour break (from deluge to hard drizzle), here comes another gully-washer. Constant window-rattlin' thunder now to our south ('twas from the north all day). Local news showed pandemonium-level flooding in Carencro (5 mi. due west of us). Rain total presently stands at 9.5”

water attempting to sneak into living room via carport

7:30 p.m. – This last deluge just ended. 1.9” in 1 hr. bringing our total to 11.4” for the day. Thank God it ended when it did, for water was threatening the living room just as it ended. I'm thinking of friends up the road (behind the original Don's Specialty Meats) who caught 2' of water throughout their house by around noon. They only recently moved there, and the original owner had told them that the house never once flooded in the 40 years that he lived there. Wait a minute. We're the ones (idiots) living right on the floodplain. It is amazing to look back over 19 floods here and realize that we've lost only two living room floors (we've got ceramic tile now....duh....) and had to gut the living room only once. Other than that, it's been a downright charming existence.

our gravel road...Wilderness Trail Rd. is about a quarter-mile off in the distance...water depth ca. 4.5'

on 13 March 9:30 a.m.

Just heard that water from Bayou Vermilion is now over-topping Wilderness Trail Rd (the blacktop) and flowing back toward us. Not a good thing. A record crest is expected sometime tonight. During the May '04 flood, water gushed over Wilderness Trail for 5+ days, raising the level back here to within one skinny inch of our main floor. With the bayou crest from this event coming so quickly (tonight), I doubt that we'll get that kind of backwater. Time will tell.