Historic deluge drenches parish

What weather experts and many old-timers are calling the heaviest rainfall in recent memory has left portions of St. Martin Parish, as well as vast areas of south Louisiana, reeling from record flooding.
Some areas were inundated with as much as two feet of rain over a 24-hour period that ran from Friday into Saturday, Aug. 12-13. Canals and bayous across the state overflowed their banks and lapped into homes and businesses, driving many families from their homes and disrupting traffic and commerce.
Here in St. Martin, Parish President Guy Cormier said Tuesday that “The combination of the flash flood event we experienced over the past week coupled with backwater flooding we are having now has been quite challenging.” He added, “Our public works department and the St. Martin Sheriff’s Office have been working tirelessly to provide what is needed during this difficult time.”
He reported that as of Tuesday morning the western part of the parish, as well as areas along Bayou Teche, Bayou Fuselier, Bayou Amy, Catahoula Lake and Grand Bois were still experiencing backwater flooding.
Cormier urged anyone affected by the flooding to report damages to the Office of Emergency Preparedness (337-394-2800).
As of Monday evening he knew of more than 250 homes and 15 businesses that had reported flood damage, with about 1,500 people displaced.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation and Development listed only Terrace Hwy/La. 96 between St. Martinville and Broussard and Prairie Hwy/La. 353 between St. Martinville and Lafayette as still closed to traffic.

In St. Martinville, Mayor Thomas Nelson planned to declare a state of emergency at noon Tuesday.
The hardest hit ares of town included portions of Durand Subdivision east of North Main Street, sections of Ledoux to the south, the area between the old Walmart and Bayou Teche, Adam Carlson Park and the area south of Terrace Hwy/La. 96.
Municipal buildings housing the police headquarters, the Acadian Memorial and the Cultural Heritage Center were all flooded but escaped major damage.
The recreation facilities in Adam Carlson Park were not so fortunate however, and the area still had standing water on Tuesday.
Nelson said there was concern about the city’s freshwater wells located west of town near Bayou Tortue and the Lafayette Parish boundary.
“For a while we were drawing water from the parish’s plant in the Industrial Park, but on Tuesday it looked like our wells and pumps will be OK,” he said. “I think what we saw was a ‘100-year flood’.”

BREAUX BRIDGE
Mayor Ricky Calais said Tuesday that “We were very lucky. I know of only one confirmed home, just off Rees Street along Bayou Teche, that had water in it.”
City officials were still keeping a close eye on several homes on the west side of town that were being threatened by backwater from the flooded Vermilion River, which was expected to crest late Tuesday.
The downtown Bayou Teche Bridge was closed to traffic when water topped the traffic lanes as well as the pedestrian walks.
But with the bayou subsiding state officials allowed the bridge to reopen at noon on Tuesday.

CROPS
Reports on possible crop damage were still sketchy at press time on Tuesday, but Charlie Levert, manager of the 5,000-acre Levert St. John Farms Inc., reported that some of their recently planted cane fields were still under water Tuesday.
“We had some cane knocked down, and a few areas along canals are still flooded, but otherwise most of the fields drained pretty well.”
The parish’s relatively small rice crop, now in the middle of harvest, is in danger of flood loss, as is some of the soybean acreage.
A more detailed assessment of the parish crops will likely be completed over the next week.