04:25 PM CST on Friday, March 10, 2006

Robert Morris / Houma Courier

HOUMA -- High winds kept a wide barge from crossing underneath the twin spans over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, blocking boat traffic for at least an hour Thursday afternoon.

The 100-foot-wide barge had just enough room to clear the narrow stretch near the downtown Houma Marina, but winds gusting up to 35 mph pinned it against the canal’s protective bulkheads. The barge was ultimately forced to retreat to a wider part of the canal until the weather calmed so commercial ships could pass.

The barge, owned by Offshore Specialties, had made it through the waterway traveling east prior to last year’s hurricanes, said Terrebonne Port Commission President Joey Cehan as he stood on the shore. In addition to the wind, the current was working against the barge on its return journey west.

Three tugboats churned the water and pulled heavy cables taut as they tried to haul the barge through the canal, and Cehan worried about damage to the commission’s bulkheads as the barge ground against them.

"We’ll get the barge out of the way, then assess the damage," Cehan said. "The main thing is, nobody was hurt. There were no spills and no environmental problems."

People dotted the shore up and down the canal as the tugboats tried to work the barge through the gap. Some may have been spectators, but others were watching for erosion and damage to their property. In her back yard, bed and breakfast

owner Maudrey Bergeron watched worriedly with a telephone in each hand as she looked at her crumbling shoreline.

"I’ve never seen that before," Bergeron said of the stuck barge, noting that she’s lived along the canal since 1962. "I think if it would make it, it would be such a tight squeeze. … The canal wasn’t built for stuff like this to go through."

A combination of the wake and occasional scrapes from large vessels, plus natural erosion from rain, is eating up land along the Intracoastal, Bergeron said. Her own property line actually runs 18 feet into the channel beyond the jagged edge of her yard.

Around the canal, Bergeron pointed to different measures people have taken to keep the waterway from swallowing their property. One man spent $40,000 rebuilding and shoring up his land, then installed a camera in case any errant boats strike it. Many trees, planted years ago to fight erosion, are now threatening to fall victim to it themselves as they tip into the channel.

"All this is so bad for our bulkheads," Bergeron said. "We don’t like to see it because we know what it’s doing here."

As the winds continued throughout the afternoon, no estimates of the damage along the canal were possible, Cehan said. That assessment could come today.