NASA researchers visit Franklin to discuss climate change

NASA officials were at the Franklin City Council meeting on Jan. 16 to discuss the city being chosen to take part in a nationwide survey of damages due to climate change and weather events, and the effects of those events on the community’s economy.
“We’ve been dealing with extreme weather,” Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard said on Wednesday. “We had the drought (during the summer of 2023), the saltwater intrusion that was a result of the extreme drought in the summer. Then last Monday, Jan. 8, we had an unexpected severe tropical type system that sat right on top of Franklin and dropped an extreme amount of rainfall in a short period of time, and we had flooded streets everywhere.
“And now, the last couple of days, we had an extreme Arctic blast. So we are going through drought conditions, we are going through extremely cold conditions. We have to continue to figure out ways we can counter some of this extreme weather and how it affects our local economy.”
Everything from schools to businesses were shut down because of the bitterly cold weather for a couple of days, he noted.
“That was the crux of the meeting last night — how climate change is impacting our city and how the extreme heat and drought conditions have affected our small businesses,” he said. “They talked about how cities are impacted and how it puts a strain on your infrastructure and your economy.”
Researchers with The Human Factor planned to stay a couple of days in Franklin to learn more about the region.
“They were over at the Teche Theater from 11 until 1 o’clock, meeting with a number of businesses in and around Franklin,” Foulcard said. “They’re on their way over to Metal Shark to discuss how climate change affects a business such as Metal Shark.
“If we have a major hurricane that hits facilities such as Metal Shark and Gulf Craft, it shuts those businesses down if we have a Cat. 5 hurricane that comes up the Baldwin canal. The meeting at the Teche Theater this morning discussed how weather events affect the local economy.”
The researchers met with local businesses and government officials to explain how extreme weather puts a strain on the local infrastructure. The group was set to meet with the city’s utilities director.
“We draw our water for the water plant from the Bayou Teche,” Foulcard said. “If we have saltwater that is intruding into the Bayou Teche, that’s our drinking water source.”
Dry, cracked grounds led to waterlines cracking in the city, he added. The NASA people were gathering data and will come back with recommendations about what can be done in those conditions.
“There are some things that we can do to possibly mitigate some of that, but it’s hard to come up with serious, quantitative data to say here’s what we need to do,” he said. “It’s a little bit above my pay grade. They’re the scientists, and they’re the experts, so we’ll see.”
Police Chief Cedric Handy discussed how the police department will not tolerate drama during the Mardi Gras season, Foulcard said.
The city’s Mardi Gras Parade on Feb. 13 will follow the same route as last year. The city council passed a resolution lifting the city’s open container law along the parade route from one hour before to one hour after the parade. No glass containers will be permitted.
“The police department will be out in full force just asking people to remain civil, and don’t engage in drama, because if you bring the drama, the police department will deal with you,” the mayor said.
The council passed resolutions regarding the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant Program, which will help the city deal with blighted properties. One resolution adopted a citizen participation plan relative to the block grant program. Another adopted a grievance procedure, and a third adopted a residential anti-displacement and relocation assistance plan for the program.