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Flooding Of Marshes and Wetlands Louisiana coastal marshes represent an estimated 35 to 40 percent of the coastal marshes and about 25 percent of all coastal wetlands in the United States. Coastal wetlands in Louisiana are in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and the Southern Coastal Plain regions. Louisiana’s wetlands compromise most of the United States continental wetlands and include the largest wetlands and swamps in all of the lower states. All the marshes inhabited in Louisiana include estuaries and barrier islands that lead to the open waters of the Gulf Of Mexico. Marshes are usually referred to as natures tubes. Marshes soak up the water that is usually comes from overflow of the riverbanks, or just water that is collected in isolated areas. Over time, when marshes collect all this water, eventually marshes flood to. Marshes and wetlands do hold back some of the flood water but as it re-enters the channels, the wetlands get over powered and it can end up flooding, causing backwater, downstream flooding and erosion. Over 80 percent of marshes and wetlands flood when it comes to the surface water increasing and the increasing rate of the speed of the water.