Gulf Coast Gauges

Mermentau River at Mermentau water level

USGS gauge 08012150 · Jefferson Davis Parish · Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana · NWS gauge MRML1

1.91 ft

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

Below NWS minor flood stage
2.1 ft
NWS action stage
4.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
4.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
6.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
8.0 ft
Highest since 1986 (USGS)
10.97 ft (November 2, 1985)
Usual range
1.91 to 2.16 ft

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

No National Weather Service alert covering Jefferson Davis 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

1.4 1.8 2.2 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 -1.29 ft NAVD88. It is not a water depth and not an elevation: add -1.29 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

1.4 1.8 2.3 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-23 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1940

In 36 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 1986), the highest peak was 10.97 ft on November 2, 1985. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 2.28 ft on October 13, 2026.

1 5 8 12 15 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 major 8 ft moderate 6 ft action 4 ft minor 4 ft Water year 1940: 14.50 ft on August 1, 1940 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1941: 8.90 ft on June 2, 1941 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1942: 5.54 ft on June 13, 1942 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1943: 6.84 ft on September 25, 1943 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1944: 4.88 ft on November 11, 1943 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1945: 4.06 ft on February 9, 1945 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1946: 8.51 ft on July 10, 1946 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1947: 6.19 ft on January 20, 1947 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1948: 5.56 ft on March 7, 1948 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1949: 5.30 ft on March 31, 1949 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1950: 5.04 ft on January 10, 1950 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1951: 3.08 ft on February 18, 1951 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1952: 3.80 ft on July 19, 1952 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1953: 13.60 ft on May 23, 1953 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1954: 3.38 ft on January 14, 1954 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1955: 11.30 ft on February 10, 1955 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1956: 4.60 ft on February 11, 1956 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1957: 7.67 ft on June 30, 1957 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1958: 3.90 ft on September 23, 1958 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1959: 6.44 ft on February 5, 1959 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1960: 5.00 ft on December 21, 1959 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1961: 6.69 ft on February 23, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1962: 4.70 ft on December 20, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1963: 4.13 ft on September 21, 1963 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1964: 4.51 ft on March 4, 1964 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1965: 5.70 ft on March 4, 1965 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1966: 7.18 ft on February 17, 1966 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1967: 8.78 ft on April 18, 1967 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1968: 4.22 ft on January 11, 1968 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1969: 8.26 ft on April 18, 1969 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1970: 3.38 ft on September 25, 1970 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1971: 5.40 ft on September 20, 1971 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1972: 11.07 ft on December 10, 1971 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1973: 7.98 ft on April 21, 1973 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1974: 7.70 ft on January 28, 1974 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1975: 6.55 ft on January 12, 1975 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1976: 5.44 ft on March 29, 1976 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1977: 9.29 ft on April 25, 1977 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1978: 6.00 ft on December 5, 1977 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1979: 7.04 ft on June 4, 1979 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1980: 10.26 ft on May 19, 1980 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1985: 5.30 ft on October 26, 1984 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1986: 10.97 ft on November 2, 1985 Water year 1987: 4.98 ft on January 22, 1987 Water year 1988: 4.89 ft on February 6, 1988 Water year 1989: 8.13 ft on July 6, 1989 Water year 1990: 6.45 ft on January 29, 1990 Water year 1991: 5.87 ft on May 13, 1991 Water year 1997: 6.64 ft on October 30, 1996 Water year 1998: 6.91 ft on September 16, 1998 Water year 1999: 5.11 ft on January 11, 1999 Water year 2000: 2.81 ft on May 8, 2000 Water year 2001: 5.07 ft on June 11, 2001 Water year 2002: 3.88 ft on April 12, 2002 Water year 2003: 6.97 ft on November 7, 2002 Water year 2004: 8.96 ft on May 18, 2004 Water year 2005: 5.98 ft on September 27, 2005 Water year 2006: 3.13 ft on February 2, 2006 Water year 2007: 6.26 ft on November 1, 2006 Water year 2008: 5.28 ft on September 16, 2008 Water year 2009: 5.09 ft on April 23, 2009 Water year 2010: 4.55 ft on December 19, 2009 Water year 2011: 2.74 ft on February 1, 2011 Water year 2012: 4.78 ft on February 22, 2012 Water year 2013: 10.56 ft on January 15, 2013 Water year 2014: 4.11 ft on June 1, 2014 Water year 2015: 4.77 ft on April 20, 2015 Water year 2016: 10.82 ft on August 18, 2016 Water year 2017: 8.73 ft on May 6, 2017 Water year 2018: 3.62 ft on September 27, 2018 Water year 2019: 6.31 ft on May 14, 2019 Water year 2020: 5.56 ft on August 31, 2020 Water year 2021: 7.48 ft on May 22, 2021 Water year 2022: 4.36 ft on October 1, 2021 Water year 2023: 5.25 ft on February 3, 2023 Water year 2024: 4.62 ft on May 21, 2024 Water year 2025: 5.90 ft on May 12, 2025 Water year 2026: 4.45 ft on June 15, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 2.28 ft on October 13, 2026 1986 2016

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. Grey hollow dots (42 years) were measured on a different datum or at a different site, or before the gauge's datum last changed, so they are shown but not compared.

NWS historic crests

DateCrestAbove minor flood stage
August 7, 194014.50 ft10.5 ft
August 18, 201610.68 ft6.7 ft
January 15, 201310.56 ft6.6 ft
December 10, 19729.47 ft5.5 ft
April 25, 19779.05 ft5.1 ft
May 18, 20048.96 ft5.0 ft
June 2, 19418.66 ft4.7 ft
May 5, 20178.61 ft4.6 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

mermentau-river-at-mermentau.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 3,558 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.