Insurance agents stress early filing
September 5, 2012Terrebonne boil advisory lifted
September 5, 2012
Lafourche Parish officials said Sunday they believed they had contained what appeared to have been record-setting high waters that momentarily overwhelmed protection levees near Kraemer and Bayou Boeuf late last week.
An approximately 4-foot-high protection levee bordering the Kraemer community was overtopped by water flowing through Bayou Des Allemands in multiple locations late Thursday night and early Friday morning.
The bayou’s elevation unofficially peaked at 4.28 inches at 6 a.m. on Friday, more than the previous high of 3.92 inches in 1985 following Hurricane Juan, according to North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District Executive Director Dwayne Bourgeois.
According to those involved with placing sandbags and water bladders atop the levee to prevent flooding, the issue began late Thursday night.
Crews, which consisted of parish workers, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, more than 100 trusty inmates, fire department personnel, National Guardsmen and dozens of volunteer residents, worked through the night and well into the weekend to shore up protection.
“It took a heck of a lot of an effort to hold that water back, but the combined effort made it work,” Parish President Charlotte Randolph said.
It could take up to 25 days for the bayou’s water to return to normal levels, Bourgeois said. As long as a strong northern wind doesn’t take hold before the level recedes about half a foot, the water outside the system shouldn’t top the sandbags, he added.
“The area needs to be prepared for a decent amount of high water levels on the outside for a good bit of time,” Bourgeois said. “It just takes a long time for that water to get out.”
Lac Des Allemands, because of its relative elevation, draws rainwater drainage from places such as Labadieville, Vacherie and Donaldsonville. Under normal conditions, the water flows through the body of water and into the Barataria Basin. Following Isaac, persistent south winds and tidal surges in the basin prevented the lake from draining properly, increasing the levels and and funneling excess water through Bayou Des Allemands and Grand Bayou.
The issue intensified as water dumped by Isaac inside the system loomed stagnant near doorways of elevated homes and low-riding vehicles along Landreau Drive on Friday afternoon. Had the water topped the levee for an extended period of time, it would have flowed into a borrow canal that was already inseparable from standing water throughout the neighborhood.
By Friday afternoon, water had settled against sand bags and a Tiger Dam atop one stretch of the approximately 4-foot-high levee at the end of Landreau Drive, clearly topping the levee for about half its length.
A slight stream of water could be seen trickling beneath a water bladder used as protection, past sandbags and into the canal, worrying those who waded through the waters inside the system
“It’s been a long time since it’s been this bad (inside the system),” former Landreau Drive resident Valerie Folse said while checking on family members. “But it’s fairly normal for a hurricane.”
Toby Granier, 70, who lives west of Kraemer, was one of many residents frustrated with the lack of progress to remedy the area’s drainage woes. He evacuated to Thibodaux during the storm because he feared the water level would rise.
“This has been a persistent problem, and nothing has been done to remedy the problem,” Granier said. “Sandbags are not the answer.”
Marvin Kraemer Sr., who for at least 30 years has lived on Eric Street, which neighbors Landreau Drive, was one of several volunteers wearing hip-boots Friday afternoon while toting and placing sandbags atop the levee.
“We’ve done this all our life,” Kraemer, 59, said.
As of Sunday, most of the stagnant water had been pumped from inside the protection levee, Councilman Michael Delatte said. “People are cutting grass,” he said.
That water had lingered longer than expected because widespread power outages made an electrical pump near Bayou Boeuf Elementary inoperable, Delatte said. The natural gas pump in the same location faltered at times, but with the assistance of back-up pumps, was able to clear the community of most standing water by Sunday.
Coteau Road and Choctaw Road still had standing water, which still seemed to be rising, as of Sunday afternoon, Delatte said. That water, which didn’t pose an immediate threat to homes or shut down either road, was also drained from the northwest, but through Grand Bayou, he added.
Randolph, Bourgeois, Delatte and some residents scattered throughout the Choctaw-Chackbay-Kraemer region attributed the flood scare to coastal erosion in the Barataria Basin, which allowed Hurricane Isaac’s storm surge to travel further north into the basin while restricting rainwater drainage of more than 400,000 acres coming from the northwest through Lac Des Allemands.
“This is an indication of the effects of coastal erosion,” Randolph said. “There is no protection anymore for those areas. There once were barrier islands and landmasses in the Barataria Basin, and they’re gone. … That’s a big concern because the water is going to move up whenever there’s a surge.”
Officials stressed on Sunday that they were taking the situation seriously and devising a long-term remedy. Although the issue was known before the storm, nobody expected the water levels to reach such elevations and top the levee, Delatte said.
“We need to elevate the levees,” Bourgeois said. “Those levees actually are made of pretty good material. They’re not like some of the material in the southern part of the district. It’s really good, heavy, fat clay, and it’s very cohesive material. … There’s nothing like a storm to test your systems and find out where your weaknesses are.”
Parish President Charlotte Randolph said she would introduce a $25 million bond application to the parish council at its next meeting that could help fund such an effort. The government-sponsored loan needing council and state Bond Commission approval would be used to shore up the parish’s infrastructure, including drainage systems throughout the parish.
Landreau Drive in Kraemer is inundated Friday as pumps near Bayou Boeuf Elementary School work to drain water from inside a protection levee system. Meanwhile, water tops the aformentioned levee system at the back end of the drive, where crews try to obstruct the flow with sandbags.
