Drainage into the Vermilion River remains an issue. The river is currently at 12 feet. Within 24 hours it rose by 7 feet.
The Director of Environmental Awareness for the Vermilion Bayou District, Gregory Guidroz, says water is draining into the bayou faster than before.
“We’ve been seeing more and more flooding events on the river,” Guidroz said.
Guidroz says the issue lies within new infrastructure throughout the area. He explains that the more concrete, the less space is available for water to saturate the ground.
“In Lafayette, we have increased flooding because our landscape and our land use is expanding, and were becoming more of an urban setting than a rural setting that we were 100 years ago,” Guidroz said.
After the 2016 flood, Youngsville changed the permit process for new structures. Mayor Ken Ritter says the changes seem to be working.
“How we raised development standards to obtain more water in developments. We’re still aggressively working to design the retention pond that has been funded through the Hazardous Communication Grant program.”
Ritter says the effort of keeping the couleesclean also made a difference during this weeks storm.
“I think all the efforts have paid off, or are paying off and were moving in the right direction,” Ritter explained.
Besides keeping yard debris and trash out of coulees, Guidroz says the best option for people looking to build a home or business is to build it off the ground, not on concrete.
More information on the Vermilion Bayou can be found here.
