Plaquemines Parish officials are trying to open the Caenarvon Mississippi River diversion to ease pressure on a levee that is being overtopped in Braithwaite.
Since power is out in the area, however, they are trying to open the diversion gates manually.
Plaquemines Parish workers have been furiously working on the levee along the Clearwater Canal since mid-afternoon. Floodwaters spilling over the top of the levee threaten the Braithwaite Park subdivision.
The levee has not breached, but authorities are not hopeful.
“We don’t think our efforts are going to be successful so we need to get everyone out now,” Parish President Billy Nungesser said.
The levee in question is privately owned, not part of the federal levee system. According to Governor Jindal, it protects 300-400 homes. If it were to breach, the water would pool between the private levee and the nearby river levee. “I don’t want people thinking that this … would be on the order of magnitude of what we saw in 2005,” Jindal said. Here’s a map of the location, from Best of New Orleans Blog:
You can get live streaming coverage from the New Orleans TV stations.
UPDATE: Now WWL-TV is reporting that parts of Montegut levee in the Terrebonne area have overtopped. Also, separately, there’s another endangered levee in Lower Lafitte area. [UPDATE, 7:20 PM: Governor Jindal says there is an unconfirmed report that the Lower Lafitte levee -- in the Houma area, closer to the landfall spot -- has breached.]
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