Ike flooding adds to the damage caused by Gustav
Even though Hurricane Ike made landfall over 300 miles away in Galveston, Tex., the West Bank of St. Charles Parish experienced a storm surge of 4.2 feet – a foot more than the 3.15-foot surge caused by Hurricane Gustav.
Water began rising in Bayou Gauche and Des Allemands on Sept. 12, with the parish seeing average sustained winds of 18 mph and gusts reaching 69 mph, according to Renee Allemand, the parish’s public information officer. By noon that day, the yards of houses along Highway 90 on the Lafourche Parish side of Des Allemands were covered with water, while Bayou Gauche island began to flood.
On Sept. 13, Bayou Gauche island was completely under water and the area suffered its highest flood levels in decades.
“Saturday, Public Works was out at Bayou Des Allemands putting an earthen levee and they also were in Bayou Gauche helping residents sandbag their homes,” Allemand said. “They did the same thing at both Willowdale and Willowridge.”
Allemand says that the levee system surrounding the subdivisions in Bayou Gauche and Des Allemands kept water out of hundreds of homes.
A day later, water levels began to recede, but there was some seepage and overtopping of the ring levee behind the Willowridge and Willowdale subdivisions, which caused street flooding. Because a front brought winds out of the southwest, quick receding was prevented and water near Highway 90 began to fill the swamps and marshland behind the subdivisions south of Highway 90 in Luling.
Most of that water was gone by Sept. 15, but several areas were still feeling the effects of Ike on Sept. 16.
In Paradis, at the intersection of Cajun Paradise and Old Spanish Trail, water spilled over to the road after high water from the marsh came underneath a nearby railroad trestle and filled ditches.
At Magnolia Ridge, water was three feet deep in places at the southern end of the road. The small spoil levee behind Hahnville High School also experienced some overtopping on both Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, but Public Works crews corrected the problem with sandbags and clay.
“Public Works crews have been out all night and day walking along the levees and monitoring the water levels,” Allemand said.
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