Just got home from work after ad exhausting 48 hours with 6 hours sleep. At
work and at home I used that site for years along with
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt for real time tracking of rivers, lakes
and other water bodies for rise and fall due to flooding. You may also want
to check out http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov for buoy information. If you look at
the buoys that were in Ivan's path you will see a wave heights of 53 feet.

I am thankful that Louisiana did not get hit like Alabama and Florida but I
am also sad for those that took the brunt of the storm. My prayers are with
y'all.

There was a fool that stayed on his houseboat at Port Eads located at the
mouth of the Mississippi. The storm past less then 60 miles East of him.
He was able to call out on a cell phone until around midnight Wednesday
night. The cell tower lost power (located in Venice). He was reporting 100
mile and hour winds and a storm surge of 10 feet at that time. A seaplane
surveying the damages at Port Eads stop to check on him and found him alive
and well. Only 3 houseboats damaged or sank due to the storm.

The storm surge caused a 5 foot rise 127.1 miles up river. Lake Ponchatrain
had a 5 foot rise due to storm surge. All the areas that flooded due to
storm surge were outside protect levees and all were on the Eastbank side of
the river except for the lower Plaquemine Parish area from Empire down.

Louisiana got lucky on this one.

Sarge