After the Rains, Should We Be Watching The Red River for Flooding?

The Shreveport and Bossier City areas have dealt with heavy rains for the last few days. Not just heavy rain, but rainfall that has produced numerous Flash Flood Warnings across the area. We've seen places of business and schools in the area close due to the rainfall and flooding waters.

But what about the biggest flood concern for our area...the Red River.

Over that last few years, the Red River has had numerous major flooding issues. Red River flooding in 2015 and 2016 reached levels some people thought they'd never see again. With some of those flood waters reaching the doorsteps of businesses at the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City. It flooded Shreveport's Dog Park, spilled into Downtown Shreveport, flooded out dozens of homes, and topped roads...including I-220.

The heights of the 2015 flood reached the highest the river had been to in almost 100 years. It topped out at 37.14 feet; with "action stage" for flood levels of the river being 26 feet, and "minor flood" levels being 30 feet.

Though we haven't seen anything as high as the 2015 flooding since, the Red River has continued to rise to concerning levels since. Now our recent torrential rainfall has some worried about the chances for another flood scenario.

The National Weather Service maintains Hydrologic Prediction Service on the Red River in Shreveport. Monitoring current river levels, and predicting about 5 days out. Right now (April 10th at 1pm), their river level recordings show the Red River at 22.8 feet in Shreveport. That's up from about 19 feet on Sunday, April 7th.

Their current predictions has the Red River rising to 26.3 feet by Saturday, April 13th. Which reaches "action" stage, but is below the "minor" flooding stage. This forecast has the river remaining over 26 feet through Monday, April 15th.

While we're not at a flood stage yet, if we see more rain come to the area over the next week, its likely the river would rise more.