Residents question decision not to sink Bayou Chene barge

The big question posed by people who attended a Tuesday public meeting to discuss flooding in lower St. Martin Parish is: Why didn’t authorities sink the barge on Bayou Chene to prevent this flood?

On Wednesday morning, St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said sinking the temporary barge cost about $7 million in 2016. However, the district was reimbursed by the federal government for all but $1.8 million of the cost, he said.

Though sinking the barge this year would’ve cost less than $7 million due to keeping some of the structure in place from 2016, doing so would still cost significantly more than the work the district has done this year to address flooding in St. Mary Parish, Matte said.

Without a commitment to get reimbursement for much of the cost, the St. Mary Levee District couldn’t justify that closure this year, Matte said.

The St. Martin Parish Council held a public works committee meeting Tuesday at the Belle River Recreation Center. During that meeting, officials discussed flooding in the Stephensville and Belle River areas, along with the Bayou Estates Floodproofing Project.

KQKI radio station provided live video of the meeting on its Facebook page.

St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars issued a voluntary evacuation order Monday for lower St. Martin residents due to sewer issues caused by flooding that posed a potential health hazard. Leaders learned that about 95 percent of the sewers in Bayou Estates Subdivision weren’t functioning properly, he said. Parish government will have places available for anyone who needs to evacuate from their homes.

Crews have been in the area round the clock to handle any flooding issues, Cedars said.

Multiple attendees to Tuesday’s meeting asked why authorities didn’t sink the barge in Bayou Chene as they did in 1973, 2011 and 2016 to prevent regional flooding. St. Martin Parish government doesn’t have the authority to make that call, but Cedars said he’d look into the criteria used to determine whether to sink the barge.

The permanent Bayou Chene floodgate project should begin work this fall and could be operational by the summer of 2021. The state has committed to fully funding the $80 million project that will protect parts of six parishes from backwater flooding along the Atchafalaya River.

To authorities’ relief, at this point, there are no plans to open the Morganza Floodway, which would send even more water south to the Stephensville area. But despite a break in the rain, the high water isn’t going anywhere with a south wind and more water expected from the Ohio River Valley, Cedars said.

The difference between the 2011 and 2016 Bayou Chene closures and this year’s flood is that the Atchafalaya has never been projected to go above about 8.3 feet this year at Morgan City. In 2011, with the operation of Morganza, the river projections showed the river could hit 12 feet or 13 feet. And in 2016, though Morganza wasn’t operated, there were projections that it could have been operated, putting the river over 10 feet, Matte said.

Another long-term solution to flooding in the Stephensville area is the $3.7 million Bayou Estates Floodproofing Project, for which St. Martin Parish officials are awaiting a permit approval, Cedars said. He hopes that Community Development Block Grant funded project will be able to start in the summer.

Opposition has slowed getting that project to construction, Cedars said.

Among other concerns expressed at the Tuesday meeting were the effects to elderly and disabled residents in the area, flooding along La. 70 and boats causing wakes speeding through the waterways.

DOTD spokeswoman Brandie Richardson said in a Tuesday email that DOTD is working to keep La. 70 open and coordinating with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to provide law enforcement in the area in order to keep traffic moving slowly and to keep motorists in their respective lanes.

St. Martin leaders have had multiple discussions with state officials about issues facing lower St. Martin, including getting the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to enforce the no-wake zone that’s been in effect since Feb. 23.

Cedars also said that he’s discussed potential health hazards with state Department of Health and Hospitals officials.

Parish officials first began addressing high water issues in January and established protocol for what to do, Cedars said. In early March, Cedars declared a state of emergency for the parish because of flooding in lower St. Martin, and officials started distributing sand bags around that time.

In mid-March, officials learned that the high water would stay in the area for an extended period of time. The situation stayed under control until an April 4 storm, followed by a significant drop in the water levels about a week later. But heavy rain May 12 and May 19 helped raise the water levels in the bayous and canals to essentially equal with the roadways, Cedars said. Therefore, pumping water from streets is futile now, Cedars said.

Officials have also addressed concerns about flooding along La. 70.

Anyone with concerns related to the high water in lower St. Martin Parish may contact the St. Martin Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at 337-394-2800.