The Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley New Orleans (MVN) continues responding to active shoaling in Southwest Pass (SWP) deposited by high river stages (flood event).  There are four industry hopper dredges, two industry cutterhead dredges and one government hopper dredge working in SWP.  The MVN is in the process of closing bays on the Bonnet Carré Spillway, the flow receded to below the 1.25 million cubic feet per second trigger point on Friday, April 5, 2019.  By the end of the day approximately 95 of the 350 bays will remain open, all bays are expected to be closed by April 13, 2019.

TRANSIT RESTRICTIONS AT SOUTHWEST PASS:

The Bar Pilots maximum draft recommendation remains at 42 feet (freshwater) as established on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 based on channel surveys from the MVN.   

The Crescent River Port Pilots’ Safe Navigation Committee maximum draft recommendation also remains at 42 feet with a one-way traffic recommendation for two vessels of 41 feet or greater between Mile 4.5 Above Head of Passes (AHP) to Mile 1.5 AHP. 

INDUSTRY HOPPER DREDGE(S) IN SOUTHWEST PASS (SWP): 

GLENN EDWARDS: The industry hopper dredge is taking on fuel today but will resume dredging operations at Cubits Gap (Mile 3.6 Above Head of Passes to Mile 2.3 AHP).  The GLENN EDWARDS began (resumed) dredging in SWP at 0830 hours on Sunday, March 31, 2019 under Southwest Pass Hopper Dredge Rental Contract #7-2019.

NEWPORT:  The hopper dredge NEWPORT (Manson Construction) is presently dredging from Mile 2.3 AHP to Mile 1.4 AHP.  The NEWPORT is working under Southwest Pass Hopper Dredge Rental Contract #1-2019.  The NEWPORT began dredging in SWP on November 28, 2018.  The MVN intends to exercise the options on the NEWPORT’s contract to keep the hopper dredge working in SWP until early June.

 BAYPORT:  The industry hopper dredge is dredging from Mile 4.2 Below of Head (BHP) to Mile 4.8 BHP.  The industry hopper began working under Southwest Pass Hopper Dredge Rental Contract #6-2018 at 1045 hours on Sunday, March 31, 2019 (Manson Construction has utilized three dredges: NEWPORT to GLENN EDWARDS now to the BAYPORT to complete this contract).

 STUYVESANT:  The industry hopper dredge STUYVESANT (Dutra Group) is dredging on the jetty end of SWP (Mile 17.8 BHP to Mile 19.6 BHP).  The STUYVESANT began dredging in SWP on Thursday, March 7, 2019 under Southwest Pass Hopper Dredge Rental Contract #6-2019.

GOVERNMENT HOPPER DREDGE(S) IN SOUTHWEST PASS (SWP):

RED FLAG EMERGENCY CALL OUTS:

 WHEELER:  MVN’s hopper dredge WHEELER is dredging at the Head of Passes, from approximately Mile 0.8 AHP to Mile 0.5 BHP.  The WHEELER began working under Red Flag Emergency Call Out #3-2019 (30-days) on March 1, 2019 and will soon rollover into Red Flag Emergency Call Out #4-2019 (30-days).

 The Carrollton Gauge (New Orleans) reading at 1400 hours was 16.12 feet with a 24-hour change of + 0.09 feet.

The graph below is reproduced from NOAA’s National Weather Service website and represents an experimental product to account for the complexity of accurately predicting long-range precipitation.  This forecast projects stage levels based on expected precipitation for 2 days (top) and 16 days (bottom) and was developed within the North American Ensemble Forecast System (NAEFS) computer model and highlights Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts (QPF).  Along with the forecasts, a shaded area is also provided to indicate uncertainty for the forecast each day in the future.   These plots are experimental and not an official forecast product.

Please see the attached report for complete details related to dredge assignments.