For Immediate Release: November 9, 2009
Contact: Chris Macaluso
(225) 342-3968
chris.macaluso@la.gov

Update: Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, Levee Districts Closely Monitoring Flood Threats from Tropical Storm Ida

Update: Monday, November 9, 2009. 1530.

Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration officials are working closely with levee districts throughout Southeast Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help direct necessary materials, equipment and personnel in advance of the landfall of Tropical Storm Ida along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast.

Orleans Parish:
Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East officials have reported that the closure structure in Lake Pontchartrain at the mouth of London Avenue Canal operated by the Corps of Engineers is being closed due to water levels in the lake reaching 2.5 feet. Closure structures at the Orleans Avenue and the 17th Street Canals remain open. Lake levels are being monitored closely to determine if closing the flood gates is necessary.

The Orleans Levee District is reporting the closing of flood gates along the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal including the closing of the Florida Ave. Bridge to both automobile and train traffic. Floodgates at both Hwy. 90 and Hwy. 11 in eastern Orleans Parish are open.
Levee district personnel and Corps of Engineers officials are closely monitoring water levels on New Orleans area waterways and at the mouths of outfall drainage canals at Lake Pontchartrain in Orleans and Jefferson Parish to determine if additional flood gate closures are needed.

Jefferson Parish/Grand Isle:
Grand Isle Mayor David Carmadelle is reporting that approximately 1000 feet of the storm surge protection levee facing the Gulf of Mexico has been washed away on the far western end of the island. Carmadelle says wave heights are reaching 12 feet or more in the Gulf of Mexico, making repairs difficult. OCPR personnel have been sent to Grand Isle to assist in the repair efforts and materials. The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East has offered to assist in the repairs by providing concrete rip rap and sand bags if necessary.

Plaquemines Parish:
Plaquemines Parish officials are reporting no levee over toppings or breaches. Officials have reported road flooding in the town of Venice and roadway flooding is expected on the east bank of Plaquemines near the towns of Whites Ditch and Phoenix. Officials are staging sand bags on both the east and west banks of the parish to combat possible overtopping of low-lying levees and seepage through levees.

St. Bernard Parish:
Minor flooding has been reported in eastern St. Bernard Parish near the towns of Shell Beach, Hopedale and Yscloskey. All flooding is outside the New Orleans area hurricane protection system.
Flood gates at Bayou Dupre have been closed.

St. Charles Parish:
The Pontchartrain Levee District is reporting no flooding. St. Charles Parish has 40,000 filled sand bags ready if flood fighting becomes necessary.

Terrebonne Parish:
Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District officials have closed the Humble Canal Auxiliary Structure flood gate. Floodgates on Bayou Terrebonne and Bayou Pettit Caillou remain open to allow tides to fall. Gates may be closed tonight if surge pushes high water levels into bayous.

The flood gate on Bayou Dularge is expected to remain open through tonight but may need to be closed Tuesday morning if conditions worsen.

Caernarvon and Davis Pond:
Freshwater diversion structures on the Mississippi River at Caernarvon in St. Bernard Parish and at Davis Pond in St. Charles Parish have been closed by OCPR personnel in accordance with standard operating procedures during tropical storm events. The diversions will re-open when the threat from storm surge flooding passes.

The National Weather Service has advised that Ida's landfall is expected east of Louisiana, possibly in Alabama, late tonight or early Tuesday morning as a strong tropical storm.

In Louisiana, tides are expected to reach 3-5 feet above normal on the east side of the Mississippi River in parts of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parish through this afternoon and into Tuesday. Tide ranges in Lake Pontchartrain and parts of eastern Orleans Parish as well as areas of Plaquemines, Jefferson, Lafourche and Terrebonne west of the Mississippi River are expected to be 2-4 feet above normal.

Flooding of low lying areas of Plaquemines, Orleans and St. Bernard outside of the New Orleans area hurricane protection system is expected.

Additional flooding of low-lying areas west of the Mississippi River and along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain is possible. Tropical storm force winds and heavy rainfall are expected to affect areas of Southeast Louisiana from lower Plaquemines Parish through the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, including the metropolitan New Orleans area, through this afternoon and into Tuesday.

OCPR and levee district officials will continue to monitor the situation until the flood threat abates.

For more information about the impacts of Tropical Storm Ida on the Louisiana Coast, please contact OCPR Public Information Director Chris Macaluso at (225)342-3972 or by cell phone at (225) 229-2051 or by email at chris.macaluso@la.gov.

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