Gulf Coast Gauges

Vermilion River at Surrey St. at Lafayette water level

USGS gauge 07386880 · Lafayette Parish · Lafayette and Acadiana · NWS gauge VLSL1

5.76 ft

gage height, Oct 23, 2026 at 2:15 PM CDT · 4 hours ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
4.2 ft
NWS action stage
10.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
10.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
14.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
16.0 ft
Highest since 1968 (USGS)
17.62 ft (August 15, 2016)
Usual range
5.53 to 6.33 ft

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

No National Weather Service alert covering Lafayette Parish was active when this page was generated (Oct 23, 2026 at 5:50 PM CDT). Alerts are issued and expire at any time; the current list is at alerts.weather.gov.

Last 7 days

4.8 5.5 6.3 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 -2.74 ft NAVD88. It is not a water depth and not an elevation: add -2.74 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

4.8 5.8 6.9 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-23 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1968

In 47 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 1968), the highest peak was 17.62 ft on August 15, 2016. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 6.70 ft on October 1, 2026.

6 9 12 15 18 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 major 16 ft moderate 14 ft action 10 ft minor 10 ft Water year 1968: 10.05 ft on January 1, 1968 Water year 1969: 12.97 ft on April 13, 1969 Water year 1970: 8.51 ft on June 2, 1970 Water year 1971: 11.46 ft on September 16, 1971 Water year 1972: 14.00 ft on December 6, 1971 Water year 1973: 13.30 ft on March 24, 1973 Water year 1974: 12.40 ft on February 7, 1974 Water year 1975: 12.07 ft on January 8, 1975 Water year 1980: 15.02 ft on May 17, 1980 Water year 1985: 13.95 ft on October 24, 1984 Water year 1986: 13.53 ft on October 29, 1985 Water year 1987: 11.17 ft on November 25, 1986 Water year 1988: 13.16 ft on February 18, 1988 Water year 1989: 14.22 ft on July 14, 1989 Water year 1990: 11.65 ft on January 29, 1990 Water year 1993: 15.81 ft on January 20, 1993 Water year 1996: 14.92 ft on December 18, 1995 Water year 1997: 13.49 ft on October 26, 1996 Water year 1998: 13.74 ft on September 12, 1998 Water year 1999: 11.75 ft on May 31, 1999 Water year 2000: 8.20 ft on December 21, 1999 Water year 2001: 15.35 ft on June 9, 2001 Water year 2002: 13.29 ft on April 8, 2002 Water year 2003: 13.33 ft on October 29, 2002 Water year 2004: 14.00 ft on May 18, 2004 Water year 2005: 13.27 ft on September 24, 2005 Water year 2006: 12.00 ft on April 29, 2006 Water year 2007: 12.86 ft on December 30, 2006 Water year 2008: 12.36 ft on May 22, 2008 Water year 2009: 10.91 ft on April 19, 2009 Water year 2010: 11.36 ft on October 22, 2009 Water year 2011: 11.21 ft on December 30, 2010 Water year 2012: 11.48 ft on February 18, 2012 Water year 2013: 13.95 ft on January 10, 2013 Water year 2014: 13.41 ft on May 28, 2014 Water year 2015: 11.84 ft on April 27, 2015 Water year 2016: 17.62 ft on August 15, 2016 Water year 2017: 13.16 ft on May 3, 2017 Water year 2018: 12.62 ft on November 1, 2017 Water year 2019: 14.60 ft on June 6, 2019 Water year 2020: 13.97 ft on August 27, 2020 Water year 2021: 15.25 ft on May 17, 2021 Water year 2022: 12.63 ft on August 25, 2022 Water year 2023: 11.61 ft on April 7, 2023 Water year 2024: 11.93 ft on December 1, 2023 Water year 2025: 13.57 ft on April 24, 2025 Water year 2026: 11.57 ft on December 4, 2025 Water year 2027 so far: 6.70 ft on October 1, 2026 2016 1993 2001

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 9, 194024.87 ft14.9 ft
August 15, 201617.62 ft7.6 ft
March 13, 194716.80 ft6.8 ft
April 8, 194216.37 ft6.4 ft
January 20, 199315.81 ft5.8 ft
May 17, 198015.56 ft5.6 ft
June 10, 200115.35 ft5.3 ft
May 23, 202115.25 ft5.2 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

vermilion-river-at-surrey-st-at-lafayette.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 4,046 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.