DIAL DALFRED: Residents of community tucked away in corner of St. Martin Parish at risk of losing homes
For one community tucked away in a corner of St. Martin Parish, some residents are at risk of losing their homes, and the places they retreat to for peace.
ST. MARTIN PARISH, La. (KLFY) Louisiana is known as the Sportsman's Paradise so our waterways and forestry have a large part to play.
For one community tucked away in a corner of St. Martin Parish, some residents are at risk of losing their homes, and the places they retreat to for peace.
153 feet from the edge of the bank to the edge of the road. What does that mean for the road?
That means once this gets to the road it's unstoppable.
Raywood Langeaux is one of about a half dozen men who came out to show us why the erosion along the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel is such an urgent matter.
He says erosion needs to be stopped.
"We're losing property hand over fist. I've lost in the neighborhood of about 200 feet since I bought my property here in 2001."
Lagneaux says he first noticed the erosion in 2008 after Hurricane Gustav. "Loss 70 feet in one shot."
Behind me is just one of the places these men are fighting to preserve. It's the camp of Mr. Randy Fontenot, and you can see to my right where the erosion is already exposing some of the drainage pipes and even the roots to the trees which many have fallen into the channel already.
"Dwindling property owner since 2017 I lost about 75 feet."
As the land beneath them continues to erode, a major concern is for Highway 975. The state road serves as one of only two roads connecting Interstate 10 to US-190 between Butte Larose and Ramah; it's often used as a bypass during crashes on the basin bridge and a hurricane evacuation route.
"Hopefully they'll do something before we lose all of this."
We reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers, who constructed the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel back in the 1930's to improve marine traffic; making for a straighter path, but since it's inception, erosion has taken a toll on the unprotected banks.
"We are aware of the bank erosion and we're working through the process right now to address it."
Matt Roe, with the U.S. Army Corps or Engineers, told us engineers have been on site forming an analysis on how to best protect further land loss.
"They're recommending placement of stone revetment on the site to stabilize the bank erosion."
Stone revetment includes large stones lining the bank, similar to what you see here. Roe said they're combing through the environmental compliance side of the process before the project can begin.
"We're looking at having our environmental compliance side done later this year and we've got it budgeted for next year in 2023 to go ahead and start the project."
If there's an ongoing issue in your neighborhood or community or there's a story you'd like me to investigate, send me an email at dialdalfred@klfy.com.