Flood control projects advance; Levee District wants a look at west St. Mary needs

The St. Mary Parish Levee District heard about progress on a list of big-ticket projects Thursday, and will consider looking to see if more are needed in the parish’s west end.
The district’s board, meeting at Morgan City’s Emergency Operations Center, also set its property tax rate for the year at its regular second-Thursday meeting.
Big projects
The district staff reported continuing progress on the Bayou Chene and Bayou Teche flood-control structures. Each project consists of a barge that can be moved into a permanent gate to prevent flooding.
The Bayou Teche structure would block storm surge from moving into the Franklin-Garden City-Centerville area by way of the Charenton Canal.
Work there is down to the final details, and completion of that $11.5 million project is expected this month. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is funding 90% of the work. So far, the district has received $7.3 million in reimbursement from DOTD.
The long-awaited Bayou Chene structure will block back-flooding potentially affecting six parishes when the Atchafalaya runs high.
Phase One, consisting of dredging and clearing, was performed by Patriot Construction and is complete at a cost of about $3.5 million.
Phase Two includes construction of the flood wall and receiving structure. Sealevel Construction Inc. has the $23.7 million con-tract for that work.
The south flood wall is complete and work continues on the north flood wall.
Phase Three, for which Sealevel has the contract, is for construction of the flood gate.
Bollinger Shipyard in Amelia has completed the 16 modules of the barge that will serve as the gate. The total Phase Three contract is for $22.8 million.
Phase Four includes construction of the Avoca Road Levee. Rigid Construction has the $5.4 million contract for the first portion of that work.
“All of those projects are going well,” Executive Director Tim Matte said. “They’re all on schedule.”
The work could be complete in September, he said.
Vessels trying to move past the construction sites have been tough on dolphins.
These dolphins aren’t the Flipper variety. They’re posts combined into columns to protect the structures as they’re built.
A tugboat hit a wooden dolphin and a guide wall on the Teche structure.
The Bayou Chene structure has been struck at least four times by vessels. One metal dolphin is already at the site, and commissioners voted Thursday to install another nearby as extra protection. The cost is expected to be $360,000.
The commission also voted to spend $63,000 on a system that can automate some of the functions of the struc-ture.
The staff also reported that a proposed route has been identified for the Yokely levee extension and flood wall. Miller Engineering & Associates has scheduled the geotechnical work, and appraisals have been conducted for the rights-of-way needed for the work. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has committed $3 million for the work.
The work is near the Metal Shark and Gulf Craft shipyards. Gulf Craft has asked what criteria will be used for closure, Matte said.
For now, the gate would be closed if a hurricane is approaching the coast to the west of that area, or if any hurricane is expected to bring a storm surge of 4 feet or more.
Taking a look
Matte suggested using modeling to identify areas west of the Charenton Canal and south of U.S. 90, where future flood-control projects will be needed.
No funding source has been found yet for levee work in that area. Matte said the district might do some inexpensive investigating to see if work might be undertaken in sections.
Commission Chairman Bill Hidalgo suggested making contact with engineer Patrick Landry, a DOTD engineer who works with modeling for Louisiana’s multiagency Watershed Initiative’s Region 5, which stretches west from the Atchafalaya River to cover Acadiana.
One novel idea came from Commissioner Will Terry, who wondered about automated game or trail cameras to monitor those areas.
Taxes
The commissioners voted Thursday to keep this year’s property tax rate at 5 mills.
Owners pay 1/10th cent of tax for each mill on each dollar of assessed valuation. Taxes are assessed on 10% of their market value.
The district has received about $2.6 million in property taxes for the 2020 calendar year, Matte told the commissioners.