Article Image Alt Text

Ethan Majewski helps his mother, Angel Allemand, fill sandbags Tuesday to protect their home in Stephensville from flooding. A break in the rain until Sunday should be a welcome sight to residents after several recent heavy downpours. (The Daily Review/Zachary Fitzgerald)

Residents rush to protect their homes

Break in rain may help

Residents of lower St. Martin Parish who have been diligently working to keep their homes from flooding may get a reprieve from the rain that has made flood waters rise higher.

Rain was supposed to move out of the forecast Wednesday and not return until Sunday when the area should see a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.

Angel Allemand and her children were filling sandbags Tuesday to place around their home in Bayou Estates Subdivision. Water was close to getting in to her home from both the front and back next to the bayou, Allemand said.

Monday night’s downpour brought the water a lot higher and closer to flooding the home, she said.

St. Martin Parish Councilman Byron Fuselier said parish officials had to shut off pumps Monday evening because the water came up so fast the pumps couldn’t keep up. A few homes got water in them as a result of the quick rise, Fuselier said.

Bayou Long rose from 3 feet to 3.3 feet above sea level but dropped to 3.15 feet shortly after that rise, resident Elwood Scully said. If the area gets a north wind, the waters should recede well. But a southerly wind and more heavy rain could worsen the situation, Scully said.

Streets and sewer systems have been flooded in Stephensville during the past few weeks. The flooding is worse in Stephensville than it was in January 2016 when the Atchafalaya River crested at 8.2 feet in Morgan City. The river crested last week at about 7.2 feet.

As of Wednesday morning, the Atchafalaya had just dipped under 7 feet at 6.98 feet. The forecast shows the river should stay around 7 feet to 7.1 feet through Tuesday.

Heavy rain in Stephensville and upriver has worsened the flooding.

“When we get a heavy rain above us, this is when we really get the problem. As long as we don’t get a rain on us and above us, we normally drain good ,” Scully said.

An official from U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins’ office attended Tuesday’s St. Martin Parish Council meeting, and parish officials discussed a flood protection project that area leaders are trying to expedite, Fuselier said.

That 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. The structure would protect buildings from flooding up to 4 feet above sea level.

St. Martin Parish leaders have been pushing since 2011 to implement the project, but are still awaiting a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

ST. MARY NOW

Franklin Banner-Tribune
P.O. Box 566, Franklin, LA 70538
Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874

Morgan City Review
1014 Front Street, Morgan City, LA 70380
Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255