Leeville fishing pier takes hit with state funding loss
June 7, 2016
Myrlee Weaver
June 7, 2016
Terrebonne levee officials say a smart phone app that advises when floodgates on parish waterways close, open or are pending closure still enjoys wide popularity, and that signups for the text notifications it generates remain on the climb.
Released in 2013, the app is viewed as simple to operate. It also has a built-in calendar.
Angela Rains, administrator for the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, developed the tool, which local mariners say has been useful for planning purposes.
With popularity has come identification of a few bugs, however. Although it works on IPhones and on Android phone systems, the developers did not build it with Microsoft phone operating systems in mind. They are working on making the app more Windows-friendly.
Another problem has been that people are so used to getting quick information they are reaching closed floodgates before they are open, resulting in puzzled phone calls to the levee district.
“If I don’t update the app fast enough, sometimes I get a call,” Rains acknowledged.
Currently, 124 people opt in for text message notifications; 30 of those are iPhone users. A news tab on the app has been hit 3,000 times by users this year.
“People are using it,” said Rains, noting that this year’s 214 opt-in users exceeds last year’s tally of users.
Mariners rely on the app to make it back inside protected waters before they are locked out.
“It gives me multiple ways I can contact people and get information out through the app,” she said. “And they can sign up for alerts and it will send them text messages. It can reach Android and Apple phones.”
Rains got the idea for the app after viewing the Houma Police Department’s tech solution for communicating with the public. The HPD app includes instant alerts on crime.
Rains got the idea for having a similar free product after floodgates were closed for Hurricane Karen in 2007, resulting in a lockout of more than 36 vessels that might have come in had their captains known the gates were closing.
Ohio-based iShop App, which developed AppArrest, the police application, was able to modify its format to meet the levee district’s needs.
“Necessity was the mother of invention,” said levee district director Reggie Dupre. The cost of the program was $2,100 for the first year. Although levee board approval is not required for that amount, Dupre and Rains introduced the concept to its members.
“We were having all these nightmares with Karen and we had to figure a more efficient way of disseminating information in times of emergency,” Dupre said. “We have a total of nine structures with one under construction and three more under design. We will end up with 13 floodgates and it seemed a single source would be a very good way of communicating.”
Julie Falgout, seafood industry liaison for Louisiana SeaGrant at LSU, has been spreading the word about the app through Facebook and other social media.
The app allows mariners to report – by text or photo – hazardous conditions or damage to marine structures. And a text alert feature means emergency information can be sent on an immediate text push through SMS technology.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Falgout said. “Most fishermen carry smart phones and with something like that. Instead of having to wait on information, they can have it right there.” •
