Years after Bayou Stumpy flooded homes, a fix is finally on the way: ‘A long time coming’

When Louisiana experienced catastrophic flooding in 2016, the people of West Baton Rouge Parish considered themselves lucky.

“We called ourselves the doughnut hole,” said Kevin Durbin, director of public works for West Baton Rouge Parish. “We were one of the more fortunate parishes.”

Still, there was flooding, and it especially affected those who lived adjacent to Bayou Stumpy. About 50 properties within the watershed experienced some form of loss, according to a parish assessment.

Nearly seven years later, the parish will receive $1.8 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to improve drainage in the bayou and reduce future flood risk. The funding is available due to President Barack Obama’s Aug. 14, 2016 disaster declaration that authorized federal assistance for designated areas of Louisiana. 

Durbin said the plan is to excavate 152,000 cubic yards from Stumpy Bayou, which will give it more capacity to hold water during future floods.

A FEMA environmental assessment found that fallen trees, overgrown vegetation, and beaver dams are impeding the flow of water in the bayou.

“The obstructions significantly reduce the area of flow and flow rate within the channel. As the flow rate decreases, traveling sediments begin to settle, causing the channel bottom to shallow over long periods of time,” the report says.

That strains the drainage system and increases flooding.

“We have to recognize that we made some really big changes to the plumbing in South Louisiana, whether putting levees on the Mississippi River, or areas where we’ve built roads and homes. Stumpy Bayou was overwhelmed,” said U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, who worked with FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to approve the project.

Because the project is on a wetland and federally funded, it is subject to the Environmental Policy Act, which requires an environmental review. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted the review and in August 2022 issued a “finding of no significant impact.”