A plan to dredge five Baton Rouge bayous, designed in the 1990s and implemented only after the deadly flooding of 2016, is now successfully protecting homes from floodwater — and it is only 15% complete.

The Five Tributaries Project involves clearing foliage from the banks and snagging obstacles along the bottoms of five bayous in the East Baton Rouge Parish, each of which empties into the Amite River.

With these bayous cleared, their waters can drain more quickly into the Amite instead of rising over their banks and threatening residents' homes.

"If you imagine the trapezoidal channel (of the bayou), we're pretty much clearing all vegetation off the side slopes coming down to about 2 inches above the ground, and then any obstructions or hindrances in the water itself, stumps, branches,

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