PLAQUEMINES PARISH, La. — Governor John Bel Edwards traveled to Plaquemines Parish Monday to see the damage done by Hurricane Barry.
Edward took an air boat tour of the Myrtle Grove Marina, where residents saw major flooding Saturday as the tidal surge overtopped the back levees.
As Edwards and Parish President Kirk Lepine surveyed the damage, water was still cascading over Audubon Road in Myrtle Grove Estates. The development took on water as Barry pushed water over the back levees.
The storm surge was estimated to be 3-to-6 feet. The levees right now are 4 feet high.
The overtopping did cause some damage, causing the road surface to sink into the nearby drainage canal. A main access point for Myrtle Grove is now being reinforced by giant sandbags and gravel.
The governor also saw the conditions of the back levees themselves.
While we’re told this levee system never breached, the overtopping did leave the levees marked and damaged.
These levees will have to be repaired as soon as possible, before the next storm hits.
“When we over flew, we saw that Pointe Celeste had some issues where super sacks were there, but it’s a construction site. It wasn’t all the way, cordoned off with super sacs so there was some infiltration of water that obviously we didn’t want," Edwards said. "That was shored up as soon as possible when the weather allowed that location to be sealed off. This is a little more of a difficult area because obviously the camps you see here are not in the protected area."
We’re told the Louisiana National Guard may drop sandbags on top of the back levees until more permanent additions can be made.
A couple quick points: As bad as the flooding looked on Saturday, Highway 23 was never closed.
The Governor left Plaquemines Parish in route to Terrebonne and St. Mary Parishes.
We’ll have more on his trip and the damage done by Hurricane Barry on Eyewitness News at 5,6 and 10 as well as on WWLTV.com and in our WWLTV App.