Berwick gets grant to pay for flood control project

Staff Report
Even after Hurricane Ida, and with the rain from Nicholas still falling, the Tri-City area can still hear echoes from a pair of one-day flash floods in 2019.
On Tuesday, the echoes sounded like money.
That’s when consulting engineer Reid Miller told the Berwick Town Council that its application for a $1.2 million grant had been approved by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The money will pay for the most expensive part of the solution to flooding in Country Club Estates subdivision.
“We feel good about getting the money,” Mayor Duval Arthur said Wednesday. “We got a piece of the pie.”
The pie, in this case, is a DOTD flood control program. It sets aside $20 million for flood control, 55% of which is earmarked for work in rural areas.
The work anticipated in Berwick results largely from a one-day deluge on June 7, 2019.
In Country Club Estates, 42 homes had water in them in that day. Many of the residents there and elsewhere repeated often during that time: We’ve lived here for years, and we’ve never been flooded before.
Miller Engineering and Associates came up with a three-part plan for which the town government applied for the grant.
The first part was clearing the Hogan Street ditch between the golf course and the subdivision.
“We did that right away,” Arthur said.
The second part involved digging up culverts. The town government is thinking about clearing the culverts instead, Arthur said.
The third part was increasing the capacity of subsurface pipes beneath Hogan, Palmer, Hebert and Jones streets.
Fifteen-inch pipes currently run beneath the streets. The plan is to install additional 15-inch pipes beneath the streets, doubling the capacity.
The cost of the work will be determined when the bids come in.
“I think we can do without having to go in our pocket,” Arthur said.
The town government has also worked with the Wax Lake East Drainage District to clear other ditches around the town.
“It’s clearly made a difference in the flow of water,” Arthur said.
He said more than 6 inches of rain fell Tuesday in Berwick with no repeat of the 2019 flooding.
Patterson has also taken a look at additional flood control measures after the 2019 storms.
People who live south of the railroad tracks reported flooding that year. The city government has commissioned a study of water flow patterns to identify what work should be done.
The solution to that problem is expected to cost into the millions.
Another major flood control project, one that predates the 2019 flash floods, has been underway in Morgan City.
Gravity Drainage District 2, which has since become part of the consolidated District 2A, and the St. Mary Parish Levee District have been working on a multimillion-dollar improvement project for the levees that encircle Morgan City.
The biggest remaining portion of that work is the stretch from Siracusaville to Lake End Park, which could cost up to $30 million.