Ile des Cannes Watershed Model cited in national engineering competition Lafayette firm's cutting-edge model provides more accurate assessment of flood hazards MGN Online and last updated 2021-03-16 11:30:09-04 C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates, of Lafayette, has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies' 54th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for developing a new modeling tool to map flood hazard areas within the 52-square-mile Ile des Cannes Watershed for the City of Scott and Lafayette Parish Consolidated Government. After integrating bathymetric and topographic survey data that captured the effects of several decades' worth of channel modification projects, the project team validated the model using data collected from two separate storm events through the use of drone technology and high-water marks on vertical surfaces. The calibrated model was then used to produce base hazard maps for a wide range of major flood events, according to a release by the American Council of Engineering Companies.