Bad blood between Toledo bend and lower sabine
 

Can someone explain to me why i meet so many people who blame SRA (sabine river authority) for flooding of the sabine river? As a property owner at toledo i love the level to be at pool so i can access the water from my canal. When i mention the lake is coming up working in lake charles I get different responses. I'm sure these answers will stir the pot but i'm very curious.

Ignorance. Toledo Bend damn is not a flood control structure.

We have had a couple extreme catastrophic weather events in the last few years. If Toledo Bend had never been made into a reservoir and was still just the Sabine River, those people below (and many many more) still would have flooded. They blame the SRA, but the SRA has guidelines which it operates the control structure. When the lake is at X level, they will not open the gates. They can not open the gates in anticipation of rain. That would lower the level below what they are allowed to open the gates at. It sucks for the people below the dam, but they would have flooded either way

This exactly how I felt I was just curious to hear the other side

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Under some situations..... IMO..... this guideline does cause the flooding to be worse down stream of the dam.


Example: If the lake is 1 foot below full pool level [172'] and it is raining very hard up just north of the lake.... to me, it would make since to not wait a day or so for the lake water to "hit" the magic level before the opening gates. If the SRA would open a few gates [or run the generators] before the lake rises to above pool level, down stream flood could be a reduced a little because fewer total gates would have to be opened.


The SAR guidelines need to be changed...... IMO to hopefully reduce some of the downstream flooding.

It really wouldnt matter. There is a ton of water coming from the north on top of the rain we have gotten down here. If the dam was not there, they would be flooded right now rather than in a few days like it looks like they will be. We have had ridiculous rain events the last few years. You could say we have had 3 500 year floods in that time. The MS and every other river in Louisiana will be flooding as well

You are absolutely correct!

i agree to extent but they need more research or someone to actually do the research to know how much rain in which area will do to the lake. Example one inch on 3 miles of sabine drainage area will make the lake go up 6". (no clue if that is correct) I think what they are attempting to do is not let more water than is needed so they can make the money off of generating. Which if they don't make i would assume would have to come out of taxes to maintain the lake.

What gets hairy is do you trust predictions if it is coming back to back. they call for 100% all the time and it is sun shining. So you lost all that profit if you let all that water go and you don't get any rain in another month. Its tricky and isn't always black and white.

I don't see why they can't generator to lower levels. Im sure a lot has to do with ppl that live/have camps on the lake want their little ditch to have water so they can have "waterfront" property and could care less about the lives affected down stream. I understand its not a flood control structure but seems like they could figure something out. They sure don't mind dropping levels when they need to work on a generator or the dam. It has 0 effect on me at all I just feel there could be a way to regulate it better.

At levels lower than 168 you start to get below launches. you can't get boats in the water. And yes people who pay for waterfront property no longer have waterfront property which isn't fair to them either. I don't know the answer but i went yesterday and pulled all the dates off of NOAA websites for historical crest of rivers around sabine river. 99% of the rivers around Sabine was flooded at the same time since record keeping started. So that tells me that regardless of what has happened with toledo bend, They are not the ones flooding the sabine river mother nature is. I agree it can be done better. But if you live close to a body of water that is the price you pay. SRA is just the scapegoat IMO. if it wasn't there these people would still flood the same.

So what would you say if they retained all of the water above the damn and flooded folks around the lake? Price you gotta pay I guess?

Yes exactly, I was raised on the west fork in moss bluff and this is the reason we left. We got tired of cleaning up after floods. We didn't blame the saltwater barrier. Also the reason when i bought a camp on Toledo i bought high enough that if i flooded it would be over the spillway. It is the price we pay to play. And it sucks but these floods are nothing new with exception to harvey.

I also have a camp on whiskey ****to that is underwater right now. but it isn't anyones fault except mother nature. I could blame bun****s lake since it pours in right above us but i don't. Hell they flood most of the time too.

I agree they can get better but not at the expense of draining the lake to do it.

I dont think you understand how big those two events were. Essentially 500 year floods back to back. Nothing was going to stop the place from getting flooded. Water was coming from Toledo and from the west from Texas.

The areas some of these people live in (I live pretty close) are in bottomland hardwoods with a deep sand layer. That sand got there from being deposited from the Sabine River flooding many many many times before Toledo Bend was a though and before any of us or our ancestors were here.

Get ready for more . . Sabine river behind my house . . N of Tyler . . https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...64fdc6a574.jpg

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