Flooding in Stephensville

Flooded streets, backed up sewer systems and home flooding in lower St. Martin Parish has some residents and officials frustrated as they say a project designed to fix these issues is going nowhere fast.

A combination of the high water flowing into Bayou Long from the Atchafalaya River and recent heavy downpours are causing problems for residents of Stephensville.

St. Martin Parish officials declared a state of emergency Monday mainly to address flooding in lower St. Martin, Parish Homeland Security Director Terry Guidry said. The declaration allows the parish to request additional assistance from the state.

In addition to using pumps to get water off the streets, workers from St. Martin and St. Charles parishes began filling sandbags last week to distribute where needed in the Stephensville area. Officials had filled roughly 30,000 bags by Monday.

A proposed drainage improvements project that’s been in the planning stages for several years but hasn’t seen much progress could be the answer to flooding problems for many in Stephensville, some people say.

The project, to be located in Bayou Estates Subdivision, includes a new pump station, a sheet pile wall to block potential floodwaters and a floodgate. The project would also protect Harbor Estates.

Parish Councilman Byron Fuselier, who represents all of lower St. Martin Parish, said officials have hit roadblocks trying to get a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit, especially since 2014. Several studies have been conducted, and officials keep answering the same questions, Fuselier said.

The project includes installation of sheet piles along the north canal and most eastern canal in Stephensville, a 30-foot-wide floodgate on the north side of Bayou Estates Subdivision and a new drainage pumping station on the eastern canal side to create a forced drainage area during storms, according to information that Project Engineer Mo Saleh provided The Daily Review in 2016.

Corps Spokesman Ricky Boyett said in an email that Corps personnel are reviewing the permit application and doing environmental assessments.

“Based on our evaluation to date as well as comments that we have received regarding the proposed project, we have requested additional information from the applicant,” Boyett said. “Once we receive this information, we can continue our application review process.”

Streets and some homes have flooded in Stephensville, and the sewer system is backing up in certain areas, resident Sterling Scully said.

Scully, who also owns Scully’s Aluminum Boats, has lived in Stephensville since 1969. When Scully bought his business building, it was 5.1 feet above sea level and, as of 2015, the building had subsided to 3.5 feet.

In 1991, Bayou Long reached 5.1 feet, “and we kept this subdivision dry,” Scully said.

But there were a lot fewer homes at that time, so officials were able to heavily sandbag the area, he said.

St. Martin officials have been pumping water out of residential areas since May 1 when Stephensville’s streets began to flood when the water reached 2.2 feet above sea level.

As of Monday morning, the water level on Bayou Long in Stephensville was about 3 feet above sea level. The Atchafalaya River in Morgan City was at about 7.2 feet Monday. Saleh said that the project would prevent flooding up to 4 feet above sea level.

The Atchafalaya is projected to slowly drop, but will still be at 7 feet Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Of the 297 homes in Bayou Estates, 67 homes are 3.5 feet above sea level or lower. Scully is concerned that the number will only increase due to subsidence.

Though the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project is meant to provide protection for multiple parishes, including lower St. Martin, Scully says it wouldn’t protect from the street flooding Stephensville has been experiencing because that level of water wouldn’t meet the threshold to close the Bayou Chene floodgate.

Efforts to do a flood protection project in Stephensville began in 1998 and ramped up in 2011. About $3 million in grant money has been dedicated to the work, but it’s just “sitting in the bank,” Fuselier said.

Scully owns a rental house that flooded about a week and a half ago and has been flooded ever since.

According to Scully, several residents have been removing sandbags that workers placed around their homes and are keeping some streets flooded, while other residents are assisting parish officials by using their own pumps to remove water from the streets.

Fuselier plans to address the project and flooding issues in Stephensville at Tuesday’s St. Martin Parish Council meeting in St. Martinville.

Anyone who needs sandbags may go to the park on La. 70 in Stephensville where residents should prepare to fill their own bags.