CORPS OF ENGINEERS THROWS FINANCIAL STUMBLING BLOCK

FRANKLIN – The U.S. Corps of Engineers has thrown a financial stumbling block at on-going plans to remedy future hurricane storm surges in the Franklin Canal. However, Mayor Raymond Harris told the City Council that the project is still-ongoing.

Harris said Tuesday that the Corps wants to conduct a soil boring analysis of the Franklin Canal to determine whether sheet piling will be sturdy enough to keep away rising storm surge waters, south of the Chatsworth Bridge in Franklin.

The analysis will cost $160,000. “It’s a financial stumbling block, but the project is still on-going,” Harris said.

Last September, the lack of flood gate over the Franklin Canal to keep away rising tides from the Gulf of Mexico, caused more than 1,000 homes in St. Mary Parish to take in water from Hurricane Ike’s surge along the St. Mary Parish coast. The impacted area stretched east to Garden City.

Prior to the storm’s impact on the coast, Mayor Harris and his staff took matters in their own hands and led an effort to build a six foot levee along the Franklin Canal, in order to protect the residents who live to the east of Willow Street. However, due to the large seven ft surge from Ike, the levee failed and sent water to east of the canal. However, loop holes in the levee caused from some landowners who refused to allow Harris to build the levee on their property, sent water west of the canal, into the Pecan Acres area of Franklin.

But earlier this year, the Franklin City Council enacted a plan which they say will correct the problem.

The project, now in the hands of the St. Mary Parish Levee District, calls for a set of gates across the Franklin Canal, with a swing barge at the bottom that will connect existing levees on both sides of the waterway. The plans will include a navigation opening between 20 and 30 feet that will be closed before a hurricane approaches the St. Mary Parish coast.

Additionally there will be a 12-foot sheet pile levee from the canal northward to the Yokley levee.

Harris said funds in the coffers for the project thus far include $640,000, capital outlay funds from the Franklin City Council, and a $500,000 commitment from the state, which State Rep. Sam Jones secured last fall.

The mayor said the levee district will subtract the $160,000 for the study, from existing funds. “We’re hoping future stimulus dollars will carry us farther,” Harris said.

Also, the mayor said the project will be implemented in two to maybe three phases, with phase one being the sheet pilings.

“Trust me, whether this project is finished or not, if we see a storm in the gulf we’re going to drop sheet pilings immediately,” Harris said. “This project is a big undertaking, but we are committed. We have moved on and we’re not sitting on our hands. We’re going to protect our people."

Pecan Acres resident Andrea Strubb, whose home flooded after Hurricane Rita, and again after Ike, quizzed and at times attempted to snare the mayor and the council on the status of the project after Harris’ briefing.

“Have any of your homes flooded? With all the recent rain we’ve had, in addition to rising waters from up north, the canal is already high. And if there was a storm in the gulf right now, I think we would see flooding, right now,” she said.

Councilman Joe Garrison replied, “Look we don’t want that to happen back there any more than what you do. We’re not saying that you shouldn’t be concerned. We’re all concerned.”

Councilman Kenny Scelfo said, “Nobody is going to drop the ball this time.”

Harris said, “We’re working on permits through the Corps of Engineers. It’s all in their laps.”

After the meeting Strubb said, “Look, I don’t mean to be a pain – I just want them to get something done.”