By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

ST. ROSE – The New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its partners at the State of Louisiana and local levee districts conducted hurricane response system tests Wednesday morning to prepare for the upcoming storm season.

The first exercise took place at the Canadian National Railroad Swing Gate in the Pontchartrain Levee District in St. Rose. Two others occurred later that afternoon in New Orleans. Exercises were also conducted Thursday in Belle Chasse. Public figures such as St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr., Steve Wilson, board president of the Pontchartrain Levee District, and Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the New Orleans District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, attended the first drill along with staff from each agency.  

Workers of the Pontchartrain Levee District swung the massive 15.5-foot-high gate closed with barely a sound following the passage of a train. The corps awarded the Canadian National Railroad floodgate contract in June 2010 to reduce risk for St. Charles Parish east bank residents from a storm surge event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.

The floodgate is equipped with a mechanized closure capable of shutting the gate in winds up to 70 mph, which will allow it to remain open longer as a storm approaches.

“As elected officials, our priority is the safety of our people. It’s very important that all state, local and federal agencies work together. The Pontchartrain Levee District has this 100-year hurricane protection levee, and it’s a crucial piece of the puzzle,” said St. Pierre. “It takes a team effort to pull this off, and we’re excited that they invited us out here today to see the functioning of this gate. St Charles Parish is ready, and there won’t be any hurricanes this year — I can guarantee it,” he added jokingly.

“It’s very important to make sure we’re coordinated with our non-federal sponsors. It’s critical to make sure we rehearse, train and do maintenance on every single one of these gates so that, should a hurricane come in this direction, we can make sure we can button down the system,” said Fleming. “The system is better than it was last year, and it’ll be better again next year.”

Hurricane preparedness exercises are a part of the corps’ standard operating procedures. As such, the agency has conducted them for decades. However, the corps amplified its efforts to include full-scale exercises in conjunction with local and state partners after Hurricane Katrina.