LAFAYETTE, La. — Recent heavy rains have led to widespread flooding across Acadiana. Residents living near the coulees believe that dredging the Vermilion River is crucial to mitigating flooding around their homes.
Jeff Lemon, who lives near Coulee Mine, shared videos with KATC showing the overflow into his backyard after a recent downpour in Lafayette.
“We are seeing over and over again, it's happening more frequently. It's time to dredge the Vermilion River," said Lemon. “In the last month, we have seen Coulee Mine overflow 3 times into our back yard, with several feet of water. This has us concerned.”
According to Lemon, these efforts have worked before.
“What really needs to be done is the Vermilion River needs to see a comprehensive dredging program. This is a regional problem. This is all of South Louisiana. This calls for United States Army Corps of Engineers to step forward and do it again. They did this after the 1940s. We had tremendous floods here. There were flood control projects undertaken by the Army Corp of Engineers in the '50s and we did not flood for over 60 years until August of 2016."
Back in 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the agency that must approve a large-scale dredging project, released a study that found dredging the river would cost too much for the limited benefit it would have.
Last year, KATC reported on a spot dredging project initiated by the Lafayette Consolidated Government at Rotary Point. We sought updates on this venture and any potential future projects. In a statement, LCG said:
"The scope of work from the initial dredging effort is complete. Future projects and continued efforts to improve flow and safety are possible as we continue to work closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Congressman Higgins’ office.”
In a recent news release, Rep. Clay Higgins announced funding for several Louisiana waterway and dredging projects, including the Vermilion River, which received an allocation of $1,035,000.
In a statement to KATC, Rep. Higgins said:
“Overall, we are satisfied with the Corps latest Work Plan, which includes strong investments for South Louisiana’s ports, waterways, and flood protection infrastructure. However, the Corps’ stated position on the Vermilion River from mile 52 to the Gulf Intercoastal Water Way is unacceptable. We secured $50 million for dredging the Vermilion 4 years ago, and those funds are still untouched. My office facilitated very advanced hydrological computer modeling from UL in 2020, and we know that spot-dredging in Lafayette Parish mitigates flooding and increases retention capacity of the river.
The intended parameters of the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish was established by law over 60 years ago at 9 ft deep and 100 ft wide, yet those parameters have not been maintained and the last time COE dredged the Vermilion in Lafayette was 1997. Since I’ve been in office, we have been patient, we have provided abundant funding and modern scientific study, and we have hosted countless meetings, yet not one bucket of sediment has been removed from the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish.
Thus, I have concluded that Federal Law requiring COE maintenance of the long established navigational parameters of the Vermilion River is being willfully disregarded, and I have initiated Congressional Oversight investigation into the matter as well as Executive Branch inquiry. I intend to identify precisely who within the COE has apparently determined that they are not required to obey Federal law. I have built an excellent relationship with COE New Orleans over the course of 9 years, and if I am wrong about any of this, I’m prepared to stand corrected, but I intend to identify a fast correction to this issue.”
KATC also spoke with Loree Stickles of the Bayou Vermilion District, who emphasized the importance of taking simple actions to address and mitigate flooding.
“Just by doing the most simple things, like picking up after yourself and picking up after others, making sure that the trash doesn’t go in our ditches, our coulees, and eventually in the Vermilion River. That's where a lot of our flooding is coming from," she says.
But for neighbors like Lemon, dredging is the key.
“If dredging of the Vermilion doesn’t take place, in tandem with a comprehensive flood control project on a regional basis, we are going to flood again... it's just a matter of time. I pray we don’t, but I think we will.”
