Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Red River Basin safe from flooding for the time being

The Red River, despite the recent influx of fall rain, shows no signs of flooding soon, the numbers show. This is, perhaps, due in part to the dryness in the late half of summer that lasted through September. Based on monitoring by the National Weather Service from Shreveport, LA, the most recent spike was 14.53 feet on Tuesday, November 3rd. With the heavy rains endured throughout the southern states that caused the flooding of the Red River as well as many local creeks and bayous earlier this summer, citizens in the river basin have every right to be concerned. 

These measurements come from the NWS/NOAA Hydrograph prediction service, which are monitored day to day at different points along the river in each state. The River's depth is measured for both highs and lows at each point.

According to the service's website, the flood categories are as follows: The Action stage is 26 ft, Flood stage at 30ft, Moderate Flood at 31.5ft, and Major flood being 33ft or higher. The spring flooding earlier this year reached a peak crest of 37.14 ft, while the highest on record was 45.9 ft in the August of 1849. 

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