NEWS

Ouachita River flows backward at Sterlington

Greg Hilburn
USA TODAY Network

So much rain has been dumped in the Ouachita River north of Monroe it has forced the river to flow backward at Sterlington, 25 miles north of the city.

"There are some strange things happening with this storm that I've never seen before," said John Stringer, president of the Tensas Basin Levee District.

Stringer said because of the volume of water surging above Monroe, "it has flattened out the slope of the river and the current is running in reverse at Sterlington."

"Before you ask, no, I've never seen that before," Stringer said.

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Neither has Michael Sorrels, a hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District.

"I've never heard of such," he said. "It's a new one on me."

But after checking the elevation gauges at Sterlington and Felsenthal, which is farther north still, "there's no reason to believe it's not true," Sorrels said.

The river elevation at Sterlington is more than a foot higher than the elevation at Felsenthal. Those elevations should be reversed, he said.

"Now I've seen it all," Sorrels said.

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Sorrels believes the more than 20 inches of rain that's fallen in the past three days combined with a surge of runoff into the river near Sterlington from Lake D'Arbonne and Bayou Bartholomew has reversed the river's current there.

But he said there are no consequences of the reversal other than as an oddity.

"As soon as the runoff is flushed through the system I'm sure the river will begin running south again at Sterlington," Sorrels said.

Meanwhile, Stringer said the levels of water in Bayou Bartholomew and Bayou Lafourche, both tributaries of the Ouachita, have exceeded their 1991 record highs and that the Boeuf River will soon top its 1991 record.

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The Ouachita stands just above its 40-foot flood stage in Monroe with a 42.5-foot crest forecast for March 27, far below the 1991 record of 50.53 feet.

"The interior flooding is worse than I've ever seen, but the river still has plenty of capacity," Stringer said. "We've been here before. We'll be prepared."

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