REBECCA CARRASCO

PHOTO: Project Representative Thad Lovell, of T. Baker Smith, the engineers who drew up the plan specs, operated the new tainter gate in South Vachery as part of a demonstration of the Vacherie Canal Backwater Project. VACHERIE – The 2001 hurricane season is here and St. James Parish is ready for it, especially in the areas around the south Vacherie community. The Vacherie Canal Backwater Project is targeted for completion in the middle of July, according to Jody Chenier, director of operations for St. James Parish. The area will now be protected, for the first time, by a set of permanent drainage pumps. “It has taken three years to design, construct and build this structure,” Chenier said. “In an effort to prevent backwater flooding in south Vacherie, Parish President Dale Hymel signed an agreement with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development for the construction of a new structure.” The improvements, according to Chenier, will include a permanent control structure at the end of South Spruce Street and the Vacherie Canal, housing two 21-inch pumps with trash screens. There will also be a 15-foot-wide tainter gate which will allow water, wildlife, and boat traffic to move through the structure during normal tides and weather conditions, but can be closed during high tide and when backwater flooding threatens the South Vacherie community. In addition, the project provides approximately one mile of new levees. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.8 million, with a grant from the DOTD Statewide Flood Control Program, which contributed $685,580 for the construction, and a grant from the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness, which contributed $509,865 for levee work. The engineers who designed the project are T. Baker, Smith & Son Inc. of Houma and Cajun Construction, Inc. of Baton Rouge won the bid for the construction at $1.142 million. Hymel praised the willingness of property owners to allow rights-of-way across their property. “Certainly, these families and individuals have provided a tremendous service to this community through their unselfish acts of donations and grants of permanent rights-of-way to the Parish Council,” he said. “This flood protection project represents the greatest level of protection that can be provided that is cost effective and also creates the least on wildlife and the environment,” the parish president concluded.