[StBernard] Heavy rain floods streets in St. Bernard Parish

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Fri Aug 25 21:27:50 EDT 2006


Heavy rain floods streets in St. Bernard Parish
Estimates show 2 - 3 inches fell during a 3-hour period
Friday, August 25, 2006
St. Bernard bureau

Heavy afternoon showers dumped buckets of rain on the Arabi and Chalmette
areas Thursday, turning some streets into swamps and slow-moving, thigh-deep
rivers.

The National Weather Service office in Slidell didn't have a precise rain
total but said radar estimates showed 2 to 3 inches fell during a three-hour
period ending about 4 p.m., with some pockets getting 4 inches.

"We've got water everywhere," Larry Ingargiola, head of St. Bernard Parish
emergency preparedness, said about 4:30 p.m. "It's a mess."


Ingargiola said drainage pumps were working to clear the streets, but the
going was slow.

"The pumps are working, but there's still a big problem with debris in the
canals," Ingargiola said.

The debris remains from Hurricane Katrina, which swamped the parish almost a
year ago.

Ingargiola and Sheriff's Office Col. Richard Baumy said they had not heard
reports of water in homes or trailers. But some observers said it appeared
water had seeped into some of the still-vacant houses in the Arabi and
Chalmette areas.

Alan Chatham, who lives in a FEMA trailer in front of his home on West
Claiborne Square in Chalmette, said the street flooding was as bad he's ever
seen -- not counting Hurricane Katrina, of course.

The water hadn't pushed inside the trailer, he said, adding, "It has washed
right over the steps."




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