"Nunsensations!" (Westwego)
March 2, 2010
Woman found dead, TPSO awaiting cause
March 4, 2010
The record-breaking snowfalls in the Northeast may be miles from the Gulf Coast, but come spring when the snow begins to melt, local officials fear the impact could be devastating.
Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte held a press conference Monday to post businesses and residents on the problem of potential flooding.
Roughly 40 Morgan City business owners sat in to hear Matte’s update. A week earlier, Col. Alvin B. Lee issued a similar message: “Get ready.”
Lee, the district commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, said the pending situation could mirror the May Flood of 1973. As floodwaters rose, the corps was forced to open the Morganza Spillway to offer relief in parts of Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes.
Matte is asking businesses on the unprotected side of Morgan City’s 20-foot levee – which stadles the Atchafalaya River – to stay alert. The city leader shares Lee’s worry that the waterway’s current flow stage is fluctuating around 6 feet, right where it was in 1973. “And we haven’t seen the rate of any snow melts from up North yet,” the mayor warned.
Adding to officials’ concerns, meteorologists are predicting a wet spring along coastal Louisiana.
“I am certainly not calling this meeting to create a panic,” Matte said. “I just don’t want to be in a situation involving high water without having exchanged any information.
“On this day … we’re at a time where the water is the highest it’s ever been,” he added. “What does that mean? It may not mean anything, but we’re concerned.”
If the water continues to rise, Matte said the city will likely close its 27 flood gates. Water levels would have to reach 6- to 18.28 feet, depending on the area, he said.
“Obviously, when the water begins to threaten homes or the city, we will have to close gates,” he added. “What do we think the river elevations are going to get to? No one really knows. The corps predictions are very tight – within a 7-day window.”
Floodgates on Freret Street and Railroad Avenue, Morgan City’s lowest elevations, are closed.
Jerry Gauthier, vice president of operations for Oceaneering, the Americas Division, expressed concern about provisions to keep Bayou Chene from backing up into Lake Palourde.
“Much like New Orleans, the weak link wasn’t the river, but the lake,” he said, referring to Lake Pontchartain. “Are there provisions that exist that will keep Bayou Chene from backing up and threatening us?”
Although no gages track the lake, Matte said his office monitors water levels using the locks to the east and west of Bayou Boeuf.
“Right now, the one on the east side of the lock is at 3.2 feet,” Matte explained. “At this level, if it were to rise, we would close the Walnut Street Canal behind the Lakeside subdivision to drain the area.”
If Bayou Chene continues to rise, Matte said the city would ask the corps to sink a barge in the waterway – the same solution used in 1973.
“I don’t think [the corps] will because Bayou Chene is now probably three times the size it once was,” he noted.
Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte warned business owners and residents Monday that the Atchafalya River’s flow stage is fluctuating around 6 feet. * Photo by HOWARD J. CASTAY JR.
