St. Mary dodges worst of Laura

Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard described the city’s condition following Laura’s lashing as, “good,” thanking God for the storm having pushed further west than originally forecast, saving Franklin otherwise potentially significant inflicted damage.
“We had a couple of instances of localized flooding at Eastwood Drive, and out at Hazelwood,” Foulcard stated, “with a little water along the Blakesley Subdivision. Thank God nobody got water in their apartments or homes, as far as went reported to City Hall.”
He conjectured that once the new flood gates are installed, within the next two or three months, along the Charenton Canal past the Baldwin Bridge, “Franklin will be sealed off totally,” furthering that with such a flood mitigation structure in place already, Franklin would have seen zero flooding at Eastwood, and in the Blakesley and Hazelwood subdivisions.
“Other than that,” he said, “we held out extremely well. We didn’t have any tree damage, and really didn’t have to clear out anything from the streets. So, we made out really well and we are very thankful. The Franklin Fire Chief, (Chuck Bourgeois) did a marvelous job of protecting everything south of the railroad tracks. Pecan Acres was adequately protected, as well as Willow Street was adequately protected by the flood gates. The flood gates and levee system south of Franklin really did its part. They (Franklin Fire Department) shored-up the levee system with a little dam near the Gulf Craft and Metal Shark area to stop that flow of water from coming off the Charenton Canal.
“Hats off to all the City personnel: Chief Beverly and the police department, Chief Bourgeois and the fire department, Jeremy Smith with the public works department, and Bernard Daniels with the utilities department.
“Those guys did an extremely good job of safeguarding and protecting the city and all its citizens.”
Foulcard concluded by saying that he would be remiss if he didn’t mention the administrative personnel and city council members at the command station who manned the station night and day during the storm, adding, “They were all in the gap making sure we had everything we needed. It was a team effort. We are all a machine with everyone providing structure and support, as a steady hand at the till.”
Baldwin Mayor Abel “Phil” Prejean’s report for Baldwin’s post-Laura situation was much the same as Foulcard’s.
“One small section of town lost power, but it was brought back by 1 p.m. the next day,” Prejean reported. “None of the roads were blocked. We were prepared and had everything ready to go.
“The Choupique, where the new gates are, once you close the gates, it makes a bowl where some rainwater collected, but we had pumps going for that. None of the water got in any houses, only yards.
“The flood gates worked well. Otherwise, the water would have flooded that area.
“I thought we did very well.”
St. Mary Parish Sheriff Hanagriff said “everything worked and went according to plan. Of course our initial concern was Marco, and that turned to nothing. We just got very, very lucky. I can’t stress that enough.”
Persisting issues were high water. “This storm followed a path similar to (Hurricane Ike in 2008). It didn’t get to Rita level…we’re also very fortunate that there wasn’t a lot of rain associated with it. There was a lot of flooding with Ike, the big key factor here which w saved everybody from Ike especially with that structure not being in place in Bayou Teche yet, was that we didn’t get a tremendous amount of rain, and the bar pit (near the Ver-dunville landing) took on a lot of water.”
“The flow of lilies in the Teche…nobody could understand what was going on, why wasn’t the water going to Ike levels. That was the reason. The bar pits were low and all that water was still in the bar pits.”
The storm surge was a major concern. “The winds and the rains weren’t that big an issue, it was the surge that we were worried about.”
He concluded that the Bayou Teche structure will be in place soon, and design designs are ongoing to place levees around Metal Shark Boats.
St. Mary Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director David Naquin said late last week that the parish was still accessing areas.
So far, though, the parish appears to have escaped serious harm, and levees and flood structures as well as preventative measures all worked as they should.
Concerns after Laura passed were cars making wakes on street. “You think you can drive through a neighborhood,” Naquin said, “but the wake of your car will put more water in a guy’s house, and that’s just not right.”
He said areas such as Eastwood Subdivision in Franklin were battling water, while a portion of Burns Point was blocked-off.
Most of Laura’s impact was on the parish’s west end.
Naquin said he had not had any reports of water in homes or businesses, but he does expect some damage in the Cypremort Point areas, where storm surge was about what it produced in Ike.
“It didn’t get quite as high as Rita, but it was higher than they thought it would be,” he said.
Naquin also said homes in Louisa, off Kelly Canal and in the Vacherie, Ashton, Glencoe and Four Corners areas that all have had water before, they probably will have water again.
St. Mary Parish Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said Thursday he received reports of water rising on areas west of the Charenton Canal that are not protected by levees.
He also reported there was some water in another area south of La. 317 in the Gordy Levees area in parts where there no levee, but he said that wasn’t unexpected and has happened before.
Flood protection measures along the Charenton Canal on Industry Road also worked as planned.
“Although it did get some leaking, that wasn’t unexpected. What we were trying to do is block off a major flow there, and we were successful,” Matte said, adding the water appears as if it is starting to recede.
Laura brought St. Mary Parish maximum sustained winds be-tween 35 and 45 mph, with some gusts higher.
While there were 3,000 power outages, Naquin said about 50% had been restored by 2 p.m. Thursday by crews who had less than a full day to work.
Further east, the Atchafalaya River was estimated to rise to 7 feet, but it peaked at 6.44 feet, Naquin said.
“It’s not flowing out yet, but it’s pretty close,” he said. “We monitor a few things on the river that indicate to us it’s not going to get any higher, and it’s going to be going out before long.”