By Stacey Tinsley, stinsley@bossierpress.com
Don’t let the sunshine fool you — water levels are high and slowly rising in south Bossier.
After heavy rain storms hit the northern portion of the basin that sends water into tributaries that run through the parish, the southern portion of Bossier Parish is feeling the effects.
“South Bossier is full of water and it’s spreading out everywhere. When the water can’t get into the river, it starts filling up like a bathtub. Right now it is filling up down there,” said Butch Ford, Bossier Parish engineer.
Although some bayous like Cypress and Flat River have fallen slightly, further south behind Bodcau Dam, water is rising and Lake Bistineau has crested.
“Willow Chute is full. Bodcau Dam jumped up 10 feet over the week. Bistineau just crested at 143,” said Ford.
Around 50 homes were flooded in the parish during last weeks storms.
“We had around 50 homes flooded — 20 in Bossier City, 17-20 in Haughton and about 10 in the rest of the parish,” said Ford.
The water was so high in some areas following last Thursday’s storm, that one family in Princeton was rescued from their home on Cannon Road by high-water vehicle emergency teams from the Bossier Sheriff’s Office, with the aid of friendly neighbors in a pontoon boat who met the couple at the front door of their flooded home.
At this time, forecasters predict that rain is not expected to be in Bossier Parish until the middle of this weekend. Another system is reportedly forming in Texas, but the National Weather Service say it’s too early to deliver a confident prediction before Thursday or Friday.
With the potential of further rain in the forecast this weekend, the Bossier Parish Police Jury and the parish emergency preparedness team are continuing to watch the weather forecast and see what mother nature has in store for us.
“We are watching the weather real closely to see how much rain we will get this weekend. Right now there not talking about a lot of rain, so that’s going to help us,” said Ford.
Preparing for possible rain this weekend, the Police Jury highway department crews have plenty of sandbags available for residents and are currently refilling satellite location containers.
“We are prepared to help people. We have plenty of sandbags made and we are waiting to see what the forecast say’s,” said Ford.
