Gulf Coast Gauges

Bayou Manchac near Little Prairie water level

USGS gauge 07380101 · Ascension Parish · Baton Rouge · NWS gauge BMPL1

2.40 ft

gage height, Oct 23, 2026 at 2:15 PM CDT · 3 hours ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
7.6 ft
NWS action stage
9.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
10.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
14.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
16.0 ft
Highest since 1989 (USGS)
21.49 ft (August 15, 2016)
Usual range
2.18 to 3.40 ft

USGS marks recent readings as provisional: they can be revised after review.

No National Weather Service alert covering Ascension Parish was active when this page was generated (Oct 23, 2026 at 5:05 PM CDT). Alerts are issued and expire at any time; the current list is at alerts.weather.gov.

Last 7 days

2.1 2.8 3.4 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20 Oct 21 Oct 22 Oct 23

Hourly averages of USGS readings. The shaded band is this gauge's usual range: the middle 80% of its readings since September 11, 2026.

How to read this gauge

Gage height is the height of the water surface above this gauge's own zero point, which sits at -1.28 ft NAVD88. It is not a water depth and not an elevation: add -1.28 ft to get the water surface elevation.

The flood stages are the National Weather Service's, on the same scale as the gage height; they are the NWS's references for this location, not estimates made here.

Daily highs and lows since September 11, 2026

2.1 3.1 4.0 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-23 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1989

In 38 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 1989), the highest peak was 21.49 ft on August 15, 2016. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 4.02 ft on October 10, 2026.

3 8 13 18 23 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 major 16 ft moderate 14 ft minor 10 ft action 9 ft Water year 1989: 8.11 ft on July 1, 1989 Water year 1990: 16.83 ft on January 28, 1990 Water year 1991: 11.20 ft on May 12, 1991 Water year 1992: 12.30 ft on March 8, 1992 Water year 1993: 16.38 ft on January 23, 1993 Water year 1994: 14.42 ft on January 31, 1994 Water year 1995: 14.71 ft on April 14, 1995 Water year 1996: 11.32 ft on December 21, 1995 Water year 1997: 11.37 ft on February 28, 1997 Water year 1998: 13.12 ft on January 10, 1998 Water year 1999: 9.78 ft on March 17, 1999 Water year 2000: 5.57 ft on October 9, 1999 Water year 2001: 16.92 ft on June 10, 2001 Water year 2002: 8.14 ft on April 11, 2002 Water year 2003: 13.38 ft on February 25, 2003 Water year 2004: 12.18 ft on May 18, 2004 Water year 2005: 8.84 ft on September 24, 2005 Water year 2006: 6.94 ft on April 30, 2006 Water year 2007: 8.79 ft on October 30, 2006 Water year 2008: 13.36 ft on September 6, 2008 Water year 2009: 11.03 ft on March 31, 2009 Water year 2010: 9.54 ft on December 20, 2009 Water year 2011: 8.45 ft on March 12, 2011 Water year 2012: 10.76 ft on September 2, 2012 Water year 2013: 12.54 ft on January 12, 2013 Water year 2014: 8.26 ft on February 26, 2014 Water year 2015: 7.45 ft on March 5, 2015 Water year 2016: 21.49 ft on August 15, 2016 Water year 2017: 8.23 ft on January 23, 2017 Water year 2018: 8.91 ft on January 30, 2018 Water year 2019: 11.70 ft on May 13, 2019 Water year 2020: 6.46 ft on July 6, 2020 Water year 2021: 12.10 ft on April 18, 2021 Water year 2022: 6.27 ft on August 27, 2022 Water year 2023: 9.21 ft on February 2, 2023 Water year 2024: 8.80 ft on January 29, 2024 Water year 2025: 7.41 ft on May 11, 2025 Water year 2026: 9.80 ft on May 12, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 4.02 ft on October 10, 2026 2016 2001 1990

Each dot is the highest gage height of a water year (October to September), from the USGS annual peak record, with recent years USGS has not published yet taken from its 15-minute readings and this site's own; hover a dot for its date. Dashed lines are NWS flood stages.

NWS historic crests

DateCrestAbove minor flood stage
August 15, 201621.49 ft11.5 ft
June 10, 200116.92 ft6.9 ft
January 28, 199016.83 ft6.8 ft
January 23, 199316.38 ft6.4 ft
March 14, 201614.78 ft4.8 ft
March 14, 201614.78 ft4.8 ft
April 14, 199514.71 ft4.7 ft
January 31, 199414.42 ft4.4 ft

The highest crests the National Weather Service lists for this gauge, as published. They can differ from the USGS annual peaks above: USGS records the year's highest gage height, which is not always the crest the NWS lists for the same flood.

Download the readings

bayou-manchac-near-little-prairie.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 3,723 rows, with time in UTC and Central, gage height in feet, and the USGS approval status.

Source. Gage height from the U.S. Geological Survey; flood stages and historic crests from the NWS National Water Prediction Service. This site is not affiliated with either agency.