Wetlands protection levee breached by rising river

(AP) – Waves have eaten a chunk 5 feet deep and 10 to 12 feet wide in a 6-foot wetlands protection levee here, and Terrebonne levee officials have set aside $35,000 to plug the hole with rocks before the winds change and waters rise higher.

The breach will keep some farmers from planting cotton and soybeans in Pointe Coupee Parish, and others have lost wheat and crawfish to floods and heavy rains, Gov. Bobby Jindal told U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer in a letter Monday.

He asked Schafer to declare the parish a disaster area, along with six surrounding parishes: Avoyelles, Concordia, Iberville, St. Landry, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.

“As you are aware, the Mississippi River is very high and it is expected to continue rising,” and several thousand more acres would be flooded if the Army Corps of Engineers opens the gates to the Morganza Spillway, Jindal wrote. “The producers in the immediate area are severely affected and will suffer significant crop losses.”

The 18,000-foot Montegut Marsh Management levee, which helps protect over 33,000 acres of south Terrebonne wetlands, is broken south of Montegut.

It is not a hurricane-protection levee, officials said, but protects lower-Terrebonne communities by controlling saltwater intrusion into the Pointe-aux-Chenes State Wildlife Management Area. That marsh, managed by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, is adjacent to the communities of Montegut, Chauvin, Isle de Jean Charles and Pointe-aux-Chenes.

The levee itself is maintained by the Department of Natural Resources.

Wildlife and Fisheries officials first noticed the breach a month ago but couldn’t get money to fix it immediately and came to the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District for help, said Jerome Zeringue, executive director of the district.

“We should attack this problem now when we can do it cheap,” Zeringue said.

The Levee Board voted unanimously Monday night to authorize up to $35,000 to close the breach with rocks.

It’s important to get the work done before the spring winds change and turn to the southeast, pushing more and higher water into the area, Zeringue said.

Levee Board officials estimate that it will cost about $25,000 to rent a barge and equipment to travel to the breach, close it with rocks and armor both sides of the levee to prevent further erosion. But levee officials authorized the use of up to $10,000 more in case costs run higher.

This will hold the aging levee closed until Terrebonne levee officials can come back and begin work on portions of Morganza-to-the-Gulf that are planned to follow the alignment of the Montegut Marsh Management levee, Zeringue said.

“Obviously (Wildlife and Fisheries) understands our concerns and the need to address this problem,” Zeringue said, “and they’re going to get the Department of Natural Resources to reimburse us for our work.”