Semisane

I just received this on my phone from one of our hunting club members. It's the highway leading to our lease.

Our campground with ten small individual camps is on fairly high ground about a half mile from the river that did that, and 500 yards from the nearest creek. Hopefully we didn't get flooded.

cayugad

I have been following the floods they are talking about in Louisiana. My concerns of course were your well being. I also I wondered if that was in the area of your "Club." Well I am so sorry to see that kind of damage. Lets just be positive and say, it didn't make it to your camp. But from the looks of that picture you're not making it to camp any time soon.

Northern Wisconsin this year also suffered floods and terrible damage. We were even declared a Federal Disaster Area so there is federal funding to help repair the damage. For instance the hwy north that I take to the big cites, washed out in three places. The way around that hwy washed out in two places. Although they currently have some gravel back roads through the federal forest you can follow, to get back to the undamaged part of the road. Just a real winding road around and through and then back in the federal. Right now they have three bridges to build before the road north is passable. They claim they are pouring concrete now. And the roads will be open November or December. So I will make it north real soon.

I hope your camp is good. Keep us posted. These special places we have, some don't understand how important they are to our sanity. So stay sane, if you can. Or even Semisane.

bronko22000

Ouch that looks nasty! Now my next question - How did that semi get in that situation?

Semisane

Driving through several feet of water, not realizing the highway underneath was eroded.

Several of the deaths were of people who tried to drive through floodwater crossing a road with swift current. It takes only a foot or so of rushing water to wash a car off the road and into deeper water beyond the road's shoulder.

cayugad

Why some think they can drive through high water amazes me. It takes such a little amount of water to disable and or wash away a car or person. High water is dangerous! When our area flooded, a woman was killed driving around a road closed sign through high water, where she discovered there was no road underneath her. Such a shame.

I have been watching the news. I think they said 40,000 people were evacuated or forced to abandon their homes. Is this kind of flooding normal? If so, why do they build there? I sure feel sorry for those people. And Semisane, hang in there, maybe you will find a way to your lease and it will be fine.

this must drive snakes and other vermin from the area. think of the danger to the higher ground residents in the area.

bronko22000

Yep I know. We have to fjord a creek when going up to our cabin. During spring run off it can get a little dicey. Luckily it's just about 1 1/2 truck lengths wide.

Semisane

Not normal. Most of the flooded areas have never been flooded before. Some of those areas got 24" or more of rain over a twelve hour period. One town was flooded because the I-12 corridor which runs East-West formed a barrier preventing efficient drainage of an adjacent river basin. The mayor of that town has been trying for years to get the State and Federal highway people to create more drainage passes under the highway in that area.

The highway in that picture is LA-10 which also runs East-West and crosses three small rivers, one of which is the Tickfaw near our lease. So far as I know water has never closed that road (even during Hurricane Katrina). During the worst of the flood, water was above the three-foot side rails on the 100 foot long bridge over the Tickfaw. Normal river level is about 20 feet below the bottom of the bridge.

Semisane

Yep I know. We have to fjord a creek when going up to our cabin. During spring run off it can get a little dicey. Luckily it's just about 1 1/2 truck lengths wide.

Bronko, many years ago I was in a lease that had one road that crossed a creek that was about fifteen feet wide and normally eight inches deep. It would get to a foot or so deep in a heavy rain, but the road bed was heavy gravel and you could drive through it even when the water was high if you took it slow. One day when I tried to cross it in my little Ford Ranger my front tires dropped into a narrow channel the running water had eroded across the road and left the truck sitting on it's chassis with water up to the headlights up front and the rear end high and dry. I had to hike out a few miles to find a good Samaritan with a tractor to pull it out.

TNHagies

I was thinking about you, Semi. I was in Covington Thursday through Saturday at my Brother In Laws. Luckily his house was ok but we had to maneuver around a lot of closed roads.

Glad to hear you are safe.

pooldoc

We had 23.5 inches in less than 48 hours in Opelousas. Fortunately we only had small areas affected locally, but they estimate 75% of the homes in Livingston Parish(east of Baton Rouge) were destroyed and most folks didn't have flood insurance because it was not a designated flood zone. I 10 and 12 were closed for 3 days and over a 1000 big trucks and cars were stranded. The Bass Pro shop in Denham Springs was flooded and the new Academy Sports store on I 12 had over 10 ft of water in it. Other areas were hit hard as well and 12 people died. It will take years to recover and the toll on people and wildlife is incalculable. We have a lot of tough foiks in this state who have survived floods, hurricanes, police shootings and more. We will survive this as well. Please open your hearts and wallets to help those who have lost everything. Have a blessed day.