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The Bayou Teche flood gate was closed as Hurricane Ida approached Louisiana's coast over the weekend.

Submitted Photo

Levee District made moves as Ida approached

Hurricane Ida’s storm surge and rainfall fell far short of the most severe predictions issued up until less than 24 hours before landfall.
But those warnings prompted the St. Mary Parish Levee District to take action all along its system and provided another chance to prepare for a storm that hits closer to home.
“It worked very well from a protection standpoint,” Levee District Director Tim Matte said.
“The [hurricane’s] movement to the east reduced the expectation for what we would receive.”
St. Mary received 50 mph gusts and a foot or two of storm surge. Early forecasts had a near-hit in St. Mary with winds of 110 mph or more and a storm surge of 10-15 feet.
The shift in the forecast track meant there would be no landfall near Vermilion Bay to St. Mary’s west, which might have led to flooding from Lake Palourde in the same way Lake Pontchartrain caused flooding in the New Orleans area, but on a small scale.
By the end of last week, the Levee District moved to close the Franklin Canal and Bayou Teche flood gates, which block storm surge from causing flooding along the Teche.
The new Teche gate, an $11 million project funded largely by the Department of Transportation and Development, had some mechanical problems but closed successfully, Matte said.
The gate is designed to block storm surge from moving through the Charenton Canal into the Teche to flood the Franklin, Garden City and Centerville areas.
Another major flood control project was a source of concern. The $80 million Bayou Chene structure, funded through the Coastal Protection Restoration Authority, is under construction now along with a levee in the Avoca area. Both came through fine, Matte said.
The district was working with Metal Shark on Wednesday to restore the shipbuilder’s access to waterways.
Levee work performed after Hurricane Barry inundated the Cabot carbon black plant near Centerville also prevented any trouble from Hurricane Ida.
Matte said an aerial survey is in the works to see if damage to the levee system extends beyond downed trees.

ST. MARY NOW

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