Francine plus 1: Hurricane has impact one year later

A year ago Friday, residents of the Tri-City area saw the sun rise on flooded homes, power outages, downed trees and other damage caused by the area’s worst strike by a hurricane in more than 30 years.
And the area continues to cope with consequences bred by Hurricane Francine on Sept. 11, 2024.
Francine made landfall about 5 p.m. Sept. 11 near the St. Mary-Terrebonne line as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph. But it wasn’t the wind that created the greatest headaches.
The rainfall total remains a source of dispute. Officially, 8-10 inches of rain fell in this region. Anecdotal reports included estimates of 20 inches or more.
No matter what the figure, the water was enough to overwhelm the system of pump stations designed to move flood water from Morgan City outside the levee system.
An estimated 340 homes sustained flood damage, notably in the Marquis Manor neighborhood and near Lake Palourde. Across the state, the value of damage inflicted by Francine top $1 billion.
No injuries were reported here, and only four occurred across Louisiana.
Thousands lined up in cars for water, ice and other supplies at distribution sites in Morgan City and Franklin, staffed by National Guard troops. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration set up aid centers to help people apply for assistance.
The pump station failures have become one of the longest-lasting impacts of Francine.
Parish President Sam Jones made a connection with Gordon Dove, chairman of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The CPRA agreed to provide $12 million-$14 million for pump station upgrades, which continue now.
The St. Mary Levee District is coordinating the pump station improvements. So far, the biggest change has been installation of two gas-fired pumps at Pump Station No. 4, which services the Marquis Manor area. The district has awarded a contract for generator backup at Pump Station No. 9 near Lake Palourde.
Otherwise, there been many outward signs of the improvements.
“I think we’ll all feel better if we see some construction going on,” said Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte.
But “the experience we had with pump stations is they didn’t work the way we wanted them to,” Matte said. So it’s important for the job to be done well, he said.
Pump Station No. 4 will eventually have four pumps rather than two. Pumps and engines have been ordered, a process that may take a couple of months. The district will accept bids on installation work Tuesday.
The roof of that pump station must be removed to allow the installation of the pumps, Matte said.
For Pump Station No. 9, design work is underway. Plans are to add four pumps to the pumps already at the station.
More plans call for two pumps and two engines at Pump Station No. 8, which serves the Siracusa area.
The pump stations became a political issue after the storm. The problems with the stations were variously blamed on installation deficiencies at Pump Station No. 9 and a general lack of maintenance. In May, after voters approved renewal of a drainage property tax, the Parish Council removed the board of Consolidated Drainage District No. 2A.
The pump stations weren’t the only infrastructure targets affected by Francine.
After years of dredging the Port of Morgan City’s channel was at its authorized dimensions of 20 feet deep and 400 feet wide. But, even though Francine created only a small storm surge here, it wreaked havoc by stirring up sediment at the lower end of the channel.
“[Francine] just sat there like a washing machine,” said port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade. “We went from 23 feet to 13 feet in six or eight hours.”
The Army Corps of Engineers stepped in to get the channel dredged to the authorized depth again.
“Thank God the Corps came to our rescue,” Wade said. “It took about 60 days.”