St. Tammany residents began dealing with the messy aftermath of Hurricane Ida Monday morning, from downed trees to flooding along Lake Pontchartrain. But for some parts of the parish, that was just Chapter 1. Chapter 2 — the rising rivers — was expected to come later Monday and into Tuesday.

Parish officials began warning residents of anticipated river floods on Sunday, and the picture didn’t improve after Hurricane Ida passed.

The National Weather Service River Forecasting Center was anticipating a crest on the Tchefuncte River near Covington of 30.51 feet at 7 am. Tuesday. That’s just under the record of 32 feet in 1988 and in line with floods in 2016, when the Tchefuncte reached 31.2 feet in March and 30.2 feet several months later……..

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