[StBernard] St. Bernard assessing damage, cleaning up after Tropical Storm Lee

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Wed Sep 7 08:16:20 EDT 2011


St. Bernard assessing damage, cleaning up after Tropical Storm Lee

Published: Tuesday, September 06, 2011, 8:52 PM Updated: Tuesday,
September 06, 2011, 10:04 PM

By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune

A day after Tropical Storm Lee left the metro New Orleans area and moved to
the northeast, local parishes on Tuesday continued to clean up and assess
damage.

In St. Bernard Parish, where more than 10 inches of rain fell and wind gusts
hit as high as 60 mph, public works road crews labored through Labor Day
weekend. St. Bernard President Craig Taffaro said crews had responded to
"rising tidal activity, drainage and sewer challenges relative to the
rainfall and storm-related damage reports."

Taffaro said on Tuesday that "while roads were nearly impassable in
Yscloskey, Hopedale, Shell Beach, Reggio and Delacroix, levee cuts and
shifting winds has helped alleviate most of those challenges."

Apart from flooding, parish damage included a tornado that touched down in
Verret, at least one lightning strike and a downed light pole at the Hannan
Sports Complex in Meraux, the parish president said.

Meanwhile, St. Bernard along with other parishes are awaiting word from the
state Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness on
whether FEMA will reimburse them for storm-related costs.

"If we have a federal (disaster) declaration made then we will get
reimbursed, otherwise we will have to eat it," said Taffaro, who added he
hoped to know more by week's end.

In Plaquemines Parish, pumps had by Tuesday lowered Tropical Storm Lee
floodwaters on Louisiana 23 enough for trucks and sports utility vehicles to
more easily pass. Traffic was moving in both directions with the usual
south-bound lanes accommodating two-way traffic. Northbound lanes had
standing water and remained closed.

The storm caused water to overtop the back levee near Myrtle Grove on
Saturday and on Sunday a section of Louisiana 23, from Mile Marker 46 to
Mile Marker 50, was shut down when water covered the roadway south of Myrtle
Grove. The Plaquemines Sheriff's Office had directed traffic to a bypass
road using the Mississippi River levee in an alternating one-way traffic
flow.

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.





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