The News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana • Page 6

NATIONFROM 1A THE NEWS-STAR WWW.THENEWSSTAR.COM 6A SUNDAY, MAY 8, 201 1 Flood Continued from Page 1A Faiths forge bonds Churches come together after tornado Associated Press fc 'f 5 ti. i In 1991, Town and Country residents sandbag the levee between the subdivision's drainage canal and canal L-11 in an effort to keep L-11 from running over its banks. The sandbags had to be transported to the levee by boat, and the canal was already overflowing the levee by midmorning. About 85 residents and volunteers showed up to sandbag, news-star file mm Shirley Napoli looks back at her flooded home on West Elmwood Drive. Friends helped the Napoli family evacuate their home during the 1991 flood.

NEWS-STAR FILE years I was on the jury." Future floods In addition to the construction of the Chauvin and River Styx pumping stations in eastern Ouachita Parish, a third pumping station was eventually constructed in West Monroe to help bolster defense for areas of the parish that were hardest hit in 1991. The Tensas Basin Levee District, which is responsible for minor levee maintenance and operation of the area's pumping stations, also has improved or rehabilitated its 64 flood gates in the region. The entire section of the Ouachita River levee that runs from north of Monroe to Bastrop has been raised by l-to-2 feet. "We're considerably better off now than we were in 1991," said Harris Brown, president of the levee district. "We've had the addition of the Chauvin and River Styx pumping stations, which provides a huge pumping system that helps us lower the water in the Chauvin Basin, which caused most of the flooding on the north side of Monroe." Brown said that during the 1991 flood, the existing storm water pumping stations simply did not have enough capacity to outpace the floodwaters in the lower areas of the parish.

The pumping stations built after the flood should stave off future flooding given a similar scenario. "With the additions that have been made, we could have handled something like 1991 with minimal flooding," Brown said. In the decade after the flood, Cupples said was pleased with the efforts in the parish to improve the capacity to handle floodwater. He said the work that was done on the levees and pumping stations gives residents in flood-prone areas of the parish some peace of mind. Cupples eventually repaired the damage to his property and remained at his home for 15 years before moving to West Monroe on higher ground.

"They did a good job," said Cupples, referring to the parish's efforts at flood protection. "They saw 'what could happen and did a real good job building levees and putting in those pumping stations. Those pumping stations have done a tremendous job at keeping water out of people's homes." said. "There were still sandbag levees in some areas through midsummer and early fall. The floodwaters were gone, but the devastation lingered.

The hangover from the 1991 flood lasted a long time." Marshall was elected to the seat in the fall of 1991 and was part of the Police Jury that dealt with the flooding aftermath. That year, police jurors led by Adele Ransom began the groundwork for establishing a pumping station at Chauvin Bayou and also some flood control measures on Bayou LaFourche. "The flood exposed a lot of deterioration as far as ongoing maintenance on many of the levees," Marshall said. "And some of the drainage canals had been clogged with overgrowth for decades, and no one had seen the need to clean them out." Marshall said Ransom was adamant that the flood control measure be funded through local, state and federal monies rather than asking voters to approve a parishwide drainage tax. Eventually, the jury uncovered millions of dollars to implement new flood control infrastructure.

"No one had identified a source of funding at the beginning," Marshall said. "But we worked through the congressional delegation and the state and managed to find some money in the Police Jury's general fund with help with the projects." Over the next 10 years, crews rebuilt several levees, including those at Chauvin Bayou and Northside Terrace. Also, in the Town and Country area, flood-prone areas of the levees were rehabilitated. During that same time, workers built the Chauvin Pump Station, and parish officials later determined that the parish needed a second pump station at River Styx. "The watershed runs from just south of Sterlington all the way to the front doors of the folks living in the River Oaks subdivision," Marshall said.

"We had to figure out an alternative way to relieve the pressure from flooding. There were a lot of ancillary projects that came along in addition to the pump stations during the eight I. .1 Several hundred volunteers work diligently filling sandbags and transporting the bags to those in need at the Shady Lane subdivision. NEWS-STAR FILE 9 a ah JAM LA LL v. Volunteers build a sandbag levee near Treasure Island.

Check thenewstar.com today for historic photo galleries. NEWS-STAR FILE PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. It's difficult these days to discern what biblical image once decorated the blown-out stained glass windows at the First Assembly of God church. The building lies in crumpled heaps of bricks, twisted steel and wooden planks, obliterated by the tornadoes that roared across Alabama last week. Across the street stands the damaged but still-intact First Baptist Church.

From the comfort of his office Thursday, senior pastor Daven Wat-kins offered help to his Assembly of God counterpart. Church leaders say the disaster has a chance to bring at least somewhat closer congregations that generally had little connection. "It just opens conversation, opportunities, communication that probably was not there before," Watkins said. Churches have played critical relief efforts so far. A group from New Zion Baptist Church in Bessemer was helping fold donated clothes at the First Baptist Church in Pleasant Grove on Thursday.

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