Hurricane Ida has passed, but rivers east of Baton Rouge still likely to flood, forecasters say

As Hurricane Ida left the Baton Rouge region Monday, but it left behind heavy rains that could cause some downriver flooding later this week, especially in the Florida parishes.

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings that will stay in effect the rest of the week in those parishes. There were also warnings of possible flooding later this week along the Amite River in Denham Springs and at Bayou Manchac.

The highest river stages are predicted in St. Helena, Tangipahoa, St. Tammany and Washington parishes. In those areas, the National Weather Service is forecasting moderate to major flooding when the Tickfaw, Tchefuncte, Bogue Chitto and Bogue Falaya rivers crest later this week.

The Tangipahoa and Tchefuncte rivers, already high, had yet to crest Monday. NWS was predicting the Tangipahoa would crest Tuesday and Wednesday at near-record levels of 18 feet in Kentwood and 25 feet in Robert.

The Tchefuncte could also crest Tuesday near record levels in Folsom and Covington at 23 and 30.5 feet, respectively.

The Amite River in Denham Springs is expected to crest Thursday afternoon at 30 feet, which could produce flooding in the westernmost parts of town. Soon after, the river is expected to crest soon at Bayou Manchac at 11 feet.

If the water rises another foot there, then backwater may flood Bayou Fountain and some homes on Burbank Drive, according to the Weather Service.

Baton Rouge and much of the river parishes were spared possibly worse damage thanks to Hurricane Ida’s jog to the east. Consequently, there was not the storm surge out of Lake Maurepas that forecasters had predicted.

But the eastward shift of Ida also dropped heavy rains in Tangipahoa and lower Livingston, said Megan Williams, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Slidell.

In the 24-hour period encompassing Ida’s arrival in Louisiana, Hammond had more than 10 inches of rain, the Springfield/Albany area had more than 10 inches of rain, and Amite had 8 to 10 inches, she said.

Denham Springs, which is farther west than those other areas, had 3 to 4 inches.

Fire officials in the Ponchatoula area of southern Tangipahoa said they were hearing reports about potential flooding from the Tangipahoa River in the coming days as Ida’s rains drain from the north.

Much of that rain is still making its way down rivers in the Florida parishes.

“Really you’re just seeing this delayed response with all these rivers trying to turn out some of the rainfall,” Williams said.

Ida’s eastward shift changed the impact of the counterclockwise, rotational winds from the storm.

Rae’ven Jackson, a spokeswoman for Ascension Parish government, said the parish’s pump stations on the eastern side of the parish had not been affected in a significant way by the surge.

Past hurricanes with potent storm surge have worried parish officials that one of their stations east of Sorrento could be swamped by the rising water out of Maurepas.

St. James Parish officials were reporting not much surge in area waterways.

Lingering wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph Monday, however, were presenting the water in the rivers from falling quicker than they might have, officials said.

Staff writer David Mitchell contributed to this story.