Office Of Coastal Protection and Restoration Officials Fly Over Coast; Conduct Levee Damage Assesments

PRESS RELEASE

Office Of Coastal Protection and Restoration Officials Fly Over Coast; Conduct Levee Damage Assesments
Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration News Update
BATON ROUGE , La. (September 3, 2008) - Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration levee and wetland experts flew over coastal Southeast Louisiana to make initial assessments of levees and wetlands in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.

Information for the following parishes/areas was reported:

Orleans: No levee damage reported
St. Bernard: No levee damage reported to the New Orleans Area Hurricane Protection System. Flooding was reported in towns outside of the levee system including Yskloskey, Shell Beach, Delacroix and Hopedale.
Plaquemines: Levee overtopping on the east bank of Plaquemines at Caernarvon near the towns of Scarsdale and White Ditch has been contained by parish and area levee officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The overtopping occurred Monday afternoon. An additional levee breach was discovered Tuesday south of the town of Myrtle Grove on the west side of the Mississip! pi River. It was reported that the flooding was isolated to open fields and farm land. Both levees are parish levees and were not constructed by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers.
Jefferson: Some minor street flooding was reported in the town of Lafitte. No damage to West Bank hurricane protection levees that are part of the New Orleans Area Hurricane Protection System. Damage to the beach levee on Grand Isle was reported. Sand washed from the beach on to La. Hwy. 1. Damage to camps and buildings was reported but it "did not appear as extensive as after Katrina."
Lafourche: No levee overtopping or breaches for the South Lafourche levee system were discovered. Parish levee officials will continue inspections until further notice.
Terrebonne: Some overtopping of parish levees and flooding was reported in Pointe Aux Chenes, Montegut, Dulac and Chauvin. The eye of Gustav made landfall at Cocodrie, the southernmost town in Terrebonne Parish, Monday. Parish officials will continue inspections until further notice.

More information on levee and coastal conditions will be available as it is obtained.

For the latest on Hurricane Gustav, you can visit emergency.louisiana.gov or call the state's emergency hotline at 1-866-288-2484 to listen to a recorded message with the most up-to-date information.

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