District is closing Walnut Street barge

St. Mary Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2 was set Wednesday morning to close the Walnut Street barge, a flood protection measure for Lakeside Subdivision.
The district expected the work to be complete by noon Wednesday.
The district had issued a public notice that it was watching the Lake Palourde level and would make a decision on Monday.
The level was above the point at which the district likes to close the barge, but it was falling, said district Director Julana Senette.
The barge closure offers protection to homes in the subdivision’s interior. Drains there have a hard time keeping up with high water, Senette said.
The National Weather Service said at 4 p.m. Tuesday that the lake was at 4.49 feet. The lake has stayed with 0.04 feet of that level since Wednesday morning.
The service says 4.0 is the “action” level at Lake Palourde. Minor flooding begins at 5 feet, and major flooding is a threat at 6 feet.
The drainage district usually closes the barge when the lake reaches 1.7 on the district’s own, different scale. And Monday, the advertised decision day, the lake was at 1.9.
“There’s a cost to [closing the barge],” Senette said, “especially if it’s like last year.”
The district was still monitoring the lake level Tuesday afternoon. Then came Wednesday and the decision to close the barge.
The National Weather Service said the lake was up to 4.51 feet at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Other officials around St. Mary Parish are keeping an eye on the gauges, too, hoping the early high water won’t translate into a another spring like last year’s, when both river and flash flooding threatened homes.
At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Atchafalaya River at Morgan City was at 6.61 feet, up slightly from the morning. The minor flood stage is 6 feet.
The river is expected to drop slightly but stay above 6.0 feet into Sunday.
The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, who rose to just short of the 40-foot major flood level last week, dipped to 39.08 feet at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It’s expected to fall to near 35 feet by Saturday.