Destructive hurricane season leaves mark on eastern St. Mary

Tropics-watchers predicted an eerily active hurricane season for 2024. They got it.
And Morgan City sustained its worst hit from hurricane wind and rain in more than three decades, sustaining widespread street and structure flooding while still escaping the worst the season had to offer.
The hurricane season is considered to last from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The early predictions from sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Colorado State University were for tropical storm and hurricane numbers half again as high as the average season.
The final count from NOAA was 18 named storms — sustained winds of at least 39 mph — and 11 hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph.
That number included five hurricanes classified as major because of sustained wind of at least 111 mph. Two major hurricanes were among the five that made landfall in the United States.
Hurricane Francine, came ashore in Terrebonne Parish near Morgan City early in the evening of Sept. 11 as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph and an official total of 10 inches of rain in half a day’s time.
Widespread but relatively brief street flooding afflicted Berwick and Patterson. In Morgan City, the system of pump stations designed to move water outside the levee system was overwhelmed.
An unofficial count of 350 Morgan City homes had some level of flooding, in addition to downed trees, damaged roofs and blackouts that for many lasted from Wednesday’s landfall into the weekend.
More than 6,000 people signed up for some form of Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. FEMA set up points of distribution for water, food and other supplies in Morgan City and Franklin. The Small Business Administration, which offers low-interest loans to repair damaged homes as well as businesses, set up shop at the Chamber of Commerce.
Parish President Sam Jones later announced that Gov. Jeff Landry had ruled that money earmarked for coastal protection and restoration could be used to improve the pump system in Morgan City, a project expected to cost $4 million-$6 million.
The Gallagher Re reinsurance brokers estimated that Francine caused at least $1 billion in damage. And that turned out to be a small fraction of the damage caused by the 2024 season.
Some estimates go as high as $220 billion for all the storms of 2024. No fatalities were reported as a result of Francine, but the total for other storms topped 400.
Among those storms:
—Hurricane Beryl, which reached Category 5 strength as it approached the Caribbean, made landfall July 7 in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane.
—Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26 near the Aucilla River in Florida with winds of 140 mph. The winds diminished rapidly, but the storm continued northward into Georgia, the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee, stalling to cause catastrophic flooding.
An unofficial total of 233 deaths have been linked to Helene, making it the second-deadliest hurricane in 50 years after Katrina in 2005.
—Hurricane Milton bounced between Categories 4 and 5 before coming ashore Oct. 9 at Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 storm with winds of 120 mph. Milton spawned a string of tornadoes. Among the damaged structures was Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.