Dan Juneau: Quite a Week
September 5, 2012
Port Fourchon withstands Isaac’s punch, despite La. 1 damage
September 5, 2012
In the wake of Hurricane Isaac, several residents of lower-Terrebonne Parish, an area that has seen massive flooding and damage from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, consider themselves to be lucky to have escaped the major lashing not spared on parishes farther east.
“We dodged a bullet this time,” said Carroll Carrere, of Dulac, as he sat at the Grand Caillou Recreation Park on Friday, watching his granddaughters play. “If Hurricane Isaac had come a little more west, we would not be sitting here talking today. God spared Dulac.”
Carrere, who stayed with his daughter in Houma during the storm, had just been to his home on Fisherman’s Lane, off Shrimpers Row, to assess the damage to his property.
“I’ve got a few shingles off the roof and some tin off the porch, minimum damage and some branches in the yard,” Carrere said. “The house is elevated and the waters have been up to the floor level for all the other storms except this one.”
Carrere, who has lived in the area for more than 60 years, heeded the warning to leave his home early Monday evening.
“I’m just going to stay in Houma ‘til the power comes back on,” Carrere said. “SLECA said they were working on getting the power back up and that they would get to it as soon as they can. I don’t have a generator. With the price of gas, you’ve got to decide whether to put gas in your vehicle to leave or to put gas in your generator to stay.”
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Just west of Dulac, Dularge resident Toni Hebert was unloading her SUV while her two children ran about the yard of her and her partner Jonathan Parfait’s elevated home.
“We’re just getting back,” Hebert said. “It was so crazy – leave, stay, leave, stay. I work in Houma as a dental hygienist and the television in our office is saying to evacuate, and I’m trying to clean people’s teeth. I was panicking.”
Like Carrere, Hebert and Parfait left the area, also packing up their family and several belongings including their deep freezer, and went to stay with family in Houma.
“A neighbor called me last night at about 9 p.m. to say that the power was back on, but we had just rented a hotel room,” Hebert said as she watched her children climb on a large felled oak tree – a tree that would have sliced her elevated home in half had it fallen in the opposite direction.
“The floor in the master bedroom is wet, and the foil insulation that we just installed last week is ripped down,” she said. “At least the tree fell the right way.”
Like many others in the lower-lying parts of the parish, the family has fled from all the major storms through the last several years.
“Better safe than sorry,” Hebert said. “We are all safe and we can replace material things. I love it here. The neighbors here help everybody. You don’t see that everywhere. Times like this, you get a real sense of community here.”
No sooner had the kind words escaped Hebert’s mouth than neighbor Russell Lovell came over to see how the family was doing.
“I stayed on my house boat but couldn’t get any sleep because everyone was calling to see what was going on,” Lovell said, laughing. “I finally had to finally shut my phone off.”
Like others who moved vehicles and heavy equipment to higher ground, Lovell had used a crane to put several of his four-wheelers on top of a shed in his yard.
“I was going to cut that tree down, but now I won’t have too,” he said, laughing.
According to Terrebonne Parish Office of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness spokesman Doug Bourg, hurricane debris collection, including tree debris, began Friday and will continue for the next several weeks.
“If you see the truck headed your way and it does not stop, don’t worry,” Bourg said. “We will be making several passes throughout the parish to make sure we get everything. We have already collected lots of debris and we expect to pick up lot more as residents clean up their property.”
In order to help with debris pick-up, Terrebonne Parish OSHEP is asking that residents place items on the side of the road and separate the items into four separate piles: green debris like tree limbs, branches and logs; construction and demolition debris such as carpet, padding, insulation, furniture, wood fencing, sheetrock and flooring; and household hazardous waste such as paints, solvents, chemicals, cleaners, television sets, gas and fuel; and white goods like refrigerators, stoves and large appliances.
As far as debris on public roadways, Bourg said that only one road remained closed as of Sunday afternoon.
“Woodlawn Ranch Road is still closed due to a downed power pole, but crews are working hard to have it removed by the end of the day,” Bourg said.
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North of Falgout Canal, Theriot residents Rob and Rachel Vice were just a few of many along Bayou Dularge Road out and about cleaning up their yards.
“We stayed – it’s too hard to get back in after a storm,” Rob said. “I don’t think cops should have the authority to keep me from my house. I want to protect what I have. I thought Isaac would be worse, and I plan to stay for the next storm, even if it is going to be worse than Isaac. I stayed for the last storm, and I took my boat to Morgan City to get 40 gallons of gas for our generator and five cases of beer. The cops tried to stop me as I passed a bridge, but they couldn’t do anything because I was in my boat.”
Besides a few stray branches in their yard, the only sign of bad weather lingering about the Vices’ elevated home was a bit of flooding in a far-off area of their backyard.
“The water didn’t even get over the slab,” Rob said. “Our power went out at 4 a.m., Tuesday and came back on late Wednesday. I’ve got to commend SLECA on getting the power up so quick.”
“We had a power line hanging over the road in front of the house,” Rachel said. “An 18-wheeler could have pulled it down if it passed under the line. We called SLECA and they came out to fix it right away.”
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Over on Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin, Railey LeBoeuf was picking up oak tree branches scattered about the yard of he and his wife Yvonne’s home on Thursday afternoon.
“We stayed here, and the power didn’t go out until about 1 a.m., this morning,” LeBoeuf said. “I heard on the television that it could be a day to a week before we have power, but I think it will be only be a couple of days. I saw some damaged power poles down the road. We’ve got a generator though.”
The LeBoeufs, who have lived in their un-elevated home since 1969, were spared the water damage that they took on during hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.
“No damage to the roof or anything – just a dirty yard,” LeBoeuf said, laughing.
Before starting his yard work, LeBoeuf and his wife took a ride down to Cocodrie to make sure their camp, which is elevated nine feet, was still standing.
“There was about a foot and a half of water under the camp and that was about it,” he said. “We’ve had the camp since 1995, and it’s never flooded. We did see lots of damage to other roofs in the area and several boat sheds were missing tin.”
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South from the LeBoeufs, several more residents were working in their yards, some using chainsaws to section off uprooted trees as well helping one homeowner put a tarp on a damaged roof. Others were sitting on porches, out in yards or in opened garages, taking advantage of the storm’s last winds, seeking relief from indoor heat brought on by the lack of power. Many trucks headed southbound on Little Caillou Road were also hauling generators in their beds.
“We lost power about 2 a.m. Wednesday, but it came back on at 11 a.m. this morning,” said Chauvin resident Frankie Luke, who was raking up oak tree branches in his mother and father-in-law’s yard Thursday afternoon. “Some people across the bayou, on Bayouside Drive, never lost power, but they were pretty quick to get our power back on.”
Luke and his in-laws stayed at their homes through the storm.
“None of us left, but it was kind if scary with the wind and the rain – you could hear the wind whistling through the walls of the house,” Luke said. “It was nerve racking. I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve never had water in my house. My great-grandpa built the house on a turtle back ridge. The water comes close, but never floods. We are one of the lucky ones.”
“I’m ready to go back to work,” Luke added. “I’m bored. I’m glad it’s over though, but I’m dreading another.”
Heavy equipment is used to clear Bayou Sale Road in Terrebonne Parish Thursday afternoon. The lower end of the parish was spared major flooding despite Hurricane Isaac’s slow track.
