Voluntary evacuation for large part of west St. Mary

St. Mary Parish authorities are calling for a voluntary evacuation for the parish west of the Calumet Cut to the Iberia Parish.

Hurricane Delta is expected to bring a storm surge of 7-11 feet to this area Friday.

The St. Mary Levee District has taken two extraordinary steps to deal with west end storm surge flooding since Tuesday. The district declared an emergency Tuesday and authorized $118,000 for work designed to keep water from moving out of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and into the Bayou Sale area southwest of Centerville.

The district also moved to install sheet piles at the unfinished Bayou Teche Flood Control Project near Baldwin.

The project is designed to allow a barge to be moved into a 70-foot opening in a new flood wall, blocking storm surge moving up the Charenton Canal from entering the bayou. But the barge isn't in place yet. The piles are being used to fill the opening.