Ike floods 1,000-plus homes in St. Mary Parish

More than 1,000 St. Mary Parish homes – from Franklin through Garden City – flooded Saturday as Hurricane Ike pushed water from the Gulf of Mexico ashore.

Franklin Mayor Raymond Harris said efforts to build a 6-foot levee along the Franklin Canal in order to protect residents who live to the east of Willow Street failed. Without a levee in place, water rushed into homes east of the canal.

Breaches in a makeshift levee sent water west of the canal surging into Franklin’s Pecan Acres subdivision.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and state Rep. Sam Jones toured the area near Franklin Canal, witnessing the flooding from an overpass high above the area.

“This is proof that coastal restoration isn’t just about saving our marshes, but about saving homes and property,” Landrieu said. “Now that Ike has hit the Texas coast, maybe the nation will realize that there are disasters happening right here in America that our homeland security needs to focus on. This isn’t just the Gulf Coast, it’s America’s Energy Coast.”

Jones said he doesn’t understand why Franklin city leaders haven’t begun the process of getting a floodgate at the base of the canal near Vermillion Bay.

He said the issue should have been addressed immediately after Hurricane Rita, which shined the “first spotlight” on the problem when the area flooded.

Jones said when he was working for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco, he and former state Rep. Jack Smith tried to assist the city with obtaining funds for protection along with Franklin Canal.

“We got the city $600,000 so that they could begin addressing this problem,” Jones said.

The Franklin City Council also held a public hearing on the matter earlier this year, but “…nothing has come afterward,” he noted.

Mayor Raymond Harris said he “does not have time to sit and wait for a study.”

“At that public hearing, I along with the council, decided it would be more prudent to build a permanent levee around the canal because, after all, $600,000 isn’t enough money to build a floodgate,” the Franklin mayor said. “Trust me, I’m all for a floodgate, but that isn’t going to quickly answer the needs of people right now.”

Building a permanent levee would require time, Harris said. Property rights must be obtained and engineer surveys would be required.

“We just got the final signature, to begin the surveys two weeks before Hurricane Gustav, as there were more than 15 property owners involved,” Harris said. “But with the onslaught of Hurricane Ike, I had to take matters into my own hands to make every attempt possible to save people’s property.”

“I just don’t have time to play politics like other politicians,” Harris added.

At a cost of $80,000 in materials, Harris built the 6-foot makeshift levee.

St. Mary Parish Director of Homeland Security Duval Arthur said a similar problem exists along the Hanson Canal, which veers east of the Franklin Canal.

Arthur said a levee once existed at the base of the Hanson Canal, but it is no longer there.

“Our lack of protection along the Hanson Canal has caused flooding as far east as Garden City, as well as along Bayou Teche where water has entered the Eastwood area in Franklin,” he said.

“This area needs to be placed on a top priority concern list when it comes to protection from the Gulf of Mexico which is less than five miles from Vermillion Bay, which has got slammed from high tides, beginning with Hurricane Lilly in my opinion,” Arthur added. “I admire the valiant effort by Mayor Harris, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.”