French Branch near Slidell water level
NWS gauge FBML1 · St. Tammany Parish · St. Tammany Parish · New Orleans and the Northshore
stage, NAVD88 · Nov 3, 2026 at 4:52 PM CST · 6 hours ago
- Below NWS minor flood stage
- 4.7 ft
- NWS action stage
- 7.0 ft
- NWS minor flood stage
- 9.0 ft
- NWS moderate flood stage
- 10.0 ft
- NWS major flood stage
- 13.0 ft
- Highest NWS crest
- 5.66 ft (March 11, 2016)
- Usual range
- 2.53 to 3.62 ft
- Highest since October 5, 2026
- 4.32 ft
- Dense Fog Advisory — issued Nov 3, 2026 at 10:18 PM CST, expires Nov 4, 2026 at 8:00 AM CST.
Dense Fog Advisory issued November 3 at 10:18PM CST until November 4 at 8:00AM CST by NWS New Orleans LA
Text as issued by NWS New Orleans LA.
Last 7 days
Hourly averages of the readings. The shaded band is this gauge's usual range: the middle 80% of its readings since October 5, 2026.
How to read this gauge
The number is the water surface elevation in feet on NAVD88, the current national vertical datum: a height above a fixed survey reference, not a depth. Readings on different datums can't be compared directly.
The flood stages are the National Weather Service's references for this location, on the same scale as the reading. They describe the gauge, not any particular street or property.
Readings the NWS marks out of service are left out, and so is any single reading more than 2 ft from the readings either side of it, which is a sensor error rather than water; a newest reading that far from the one before waits for the next to agree.
St. Tammany Parish runs this gauge; the National Weather Service publishes its readings and its flood stages, which is where this site reads them.
NWS historic crests
| Date | Crest | Above minor flood stage |
|---|---|---|
| March 11, 2016 | 5.66 ft | — |
| August 12, 2016 | 5.27 ft | — |
The highest crests the National Weather Service lists for this gauge, as published, on the same scale as the reading.
Daily highs and lows since October 5, 2026
Other NWS-published gauges in New Orleans and the Northshore
Download the readings
french-branch-near-slidell.csv (CSV): every reading from the last 90 days, 513 rows, with time in UTC and local time, and the reading in feet on NAVD88.
french-branch-near-slidell-daily.csv (CSV): the low and high of every day since October 5, 2026.
Source. Readings from St. Tammany Parish, as published by the National Weather Service, which also sets the flood stages and lists the crests. The NWS name for this gauge is “French Branch near Slidell”. Recent readings are provisional and can be revised. This site is not affiliated with either.