On the night of September 12 and the morning of September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike roared ashore on the southeastern coast of Texas at Galveston Island and continued inland as a hurricane to the City Houston.  The winds and tidal surges of Hurricane Ike flooded and severely damaged  Galveston Island, communities along Galveston Bay and the City of Houston. While the news coverage has centered on Galveston Island and the City of Houston, Hurricane Ike did substantial and extensive damage to the coastal areas of the Panhandle of Florida, and the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

     Beginning as early as Thursday morning, September 11, 2008, strong winds buffeted the coastal areas  and storm tidal surges inundated coastal communities, eroded beaches,  and flooded back bay and marshy wetland areas along the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi.   The coastal communities in Louisiana had to face  breaching and overtopping of levees which added to the flood water destruction in their communities.  The flood waters being forced on shore by Hurricane Ike continue to rise in the southeastern and  south central coastal areas of Louisiana and further damage the coastal areas as of 10 PM September 13, 2008.

     On September 13, 2008, I performed a damage assessment of the coastal communities from New Iberia to Lower Jefferson Parish in Louisiana:

Bayou Teche Ridge - Iberia and St. Mary Parish

     The Bayou Teche Ridge is the highest area of Iberia and St. Mary parishes with the exception of the surface expression salt domes.  The ridge was formed by flood waters carrying sediments onto the land and depositing the sediment along the banks of the Bayou Teche.  The Teche Ridge built up over centuries of  flooding events.  Along the Bayou Teche in Iberia and St. Mary Parishes, homes have been build on land along the bayou.  As a result of the storm surge from Hurricane Ike pushing Gulf waters up the bayou, the yards, pools, boat docks, tool sheds and in some cases the homes have been inundates by the storm surge waters. The damage extended along the entire length of Bayou Teche in Iberia and St. Mary Parish.

Coastal Areas of Iberia and St. Mary Parish

     The coastal areas of Iberia and St. Mary parishes have also experienced extensive flooding from the Gulf of Mexico waters forced inland by Hurricane Ike.  The storm surge flooded low lying coastal communities, overtopped levee systems and breached a levee system that protected the town of Franklin.  South of the levee system protecting Franklin, the storm surge flooded agriculture fields, overtopped levee systems along drainage canals, and flooded all coastal communities south of Highway 90 and  Highway 14 in Iberia and St. Mary Parishes.  The damage to coastal communities in Vermilion and Cameron parishes is extensive and will be performed on September 14, 2008.

     The breaching of the levee system near the Yokley Canal which was designed to protect  Franklin resulted in the flooding of homes and businesses in more than 50% of the southern portion of the community of Franklin as well as the flooding of homes along the Bayou Teche.

Baldwin Canal

     The Baldwin Canal connects the Bayou Teche at Baldwin to West Cote Blanche Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The water in the Baldwin Canal was flowing upstream and carrying brackish water from the bay system into the Bayou Teche. The storm surge waters flooded homes along Highway 90 in Baldwin and flooded the sugarcane fields which were just two weeks away from beginning to be harvested.

Morgan City/Berwick, St. Mary Parish

     The Atchafalaya River flows to the Gulf of Mexico between the cities of Morgan city and Berwick.  The two cities are protected by concrete sea walls along the river side of the towns and levees along the back water areas of the towns. The flood gates along the Atchafalaya river were closed and the river covered the wharfs where shrimp boats were docked, and where oil industry service companies are located. The storm surge flood waters extended up onto the concrete flood walls on both the Morgan City and Berwick sides of the river.  As of 5:30 PM the Atchafalaya River was flowing up river and had  current that was being pushed upriver by the impacts of the hurricane.   This up river flow was also pushing flood waters over the tops of the back water levee systems  and flooding homes in the residential areas.

Lower Terrebonne Parish

     As early as Wednesday morning the waters of Terrebonne Bay and the Gulf of Mexico began flowing into the communities in lower Terrebonne parish. The levees in this area are know to be inadequate to hold back the bay and gulf waters, to have integrity problems and proned to breaching and overtopping.  By Friday afternoon as Hurricane Ike churned through the Gulf of Mexico, catastrophic events began to occur along the levees in lower Terrebonne Parish.  The communities of  Chauvin, Isle de Jean Charles, Montegut, Pointe aux Chenes, Cocodrie and Dulac were flooding. Levee breaches and overtopping were occurring through out the area.  Community members worked to hold back the waters by attempting to control the levee breaches. Louisiana Environmental Action Network provided life preservers for community members to use as they toiled against the storm surge waters.  On Saturday, September 13, 2008 the storm surge waters were continuing to rise, the communities were flooded, and structures that had been rebuilt after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, damaged by the winds of Hurricane Gustav were completely inundated by Hurricane Ike.

Des Allemands, St. Charles Parish

     The community of Des Allemands in St. Charles Parish is a fishing and crabbing community.  Hurricane Ike storm surge from Lac Des Allemands and Lake Salvador flooded the majority of the residential areas in Des Allemands and also flooded the fishing docks and seafood processing facilities.

Along Highway 90 on the Border of St. Charles and Jefferson Parishes

     Highway 90 was completely flooded and the surrounding marsh areas, businesses and homes were completely inundated by the storm surge waters of Hurricane Ike.  Highway 90 in this area is the only route on the West Bank of the Mississippi River between Boutte and New Orleans. Storm surge waters piled up on the highway, in the drainage canals and over the landscape. The storm surge waters on the highway were six inches deep on the better stretches of the four lane highway. Law enforcement officers attempted to block off the areas judged to be impassable while still allowing some traffic to pass at their own risk.  This was the worse stretch of highway that had to be traveled in order to perform the damage assessment. All of the homes and businesses in this area were flooded and the people had been evacuated to higher ground.

Bayou Segnette, Upper Jefferson Parish

    Bayou Segnette is connected to Lake Cataouatche near the community of Westwego.  The storm surge from Hurricane Ike has pushed Bayou Segnette out of its banks and flooded recreational areas and residential areas along the bayou

Harvey Canal, Jefferson Parish

     The Harvey Canal was brimming full due to Hurricane Ike’s storm surge. The canal pump station adjacent to the canal was draped with a crane that had collapsed. The floodwalls of the Harvey Canal were monitored continuously during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike to insure that the west bank of the Mississippi River did not flood as a result of breaches in the Harvey Canal flood walls.

Jean Lafitte, Lafitte, Barataria and Crown Point - Lower Jefferson Parish

     Barataria Boulevard leads from the West Bank Expressway to the communities of Jean Lafitte, Lafitte, Barataria and Crown PoInt in lower Jefferson Parish.  Immediately after Hurricane Ike hit the area of lower Jefferson Parish, Barataria Boulevard only lead to a brackish water filled area that extended as far as the eye could see.

     Lining the Boulevard were police, rescue vehicles and cars and trucks with boat trailers attached.  The residential areas just off the Boulevard were completely under water.  Search and rescue teams moved in and out of the area carrying individuals that had been stranded in the communities of Jean Lafitte, Lafitte, Barataria and Crown Point to safety.  The point at which the Boulevard became a lake of troubled waters was still some distance from the communities that had been struck hard by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.  Rebuilding efforts had been supported by numerous organizations.  All of the efforts to rebuild were now under water.  Even the houses and businesses that had been elevated after the hurricanes of 2005 were flooded. And the water continued to rise.