LAKE ARTHUR — Nancy Cook sat on her neighbor’s front porch Tuesday drinking coffee and gazing across the lake as sandbags held floodwaters at bay.
“Things would have been a lot worse if hadn’t been for those people putting out the sandbags and running those pumps,” she said. “Without that we would have had at least 2 feet of water in my home and more wanting to come over (the levee).”
The Mermentau River remained at flood stage Tuesday, but is expected to fall below by the weekend.
Cook left her Pleasant Street home for six days and returned Saturday, but is staying with neighbors after water flooded her home and busted a sewer pipe. “I had damage before I left from all the rainwater coming in,” she said. “It actually came in twice. After that I cleaned up and put all the furniture up and left.”
She said the home had 3 inches of water covering the floor. She said the sandbags and the pumps prevented the flooding from inundating the town.
“If it hadn’t been for all those people with the sandbags, main street would have gone under,” Cook said. “We’re so fortunate for all the people that came and wanted to help. They literally saved our town.”
Leslie LeDoux and her husband, Mike, stayed in their Pleasant Street home to keep the pumps going and to watch over neighbors’ property. “We felt we could do more staying here than evacuating,” LeDoux said.
She and her husband slept with alarm clocks set for every three hours so they could get up to refuel the pumps and keep them going. At the peak of the flooding, four pumps were running on Pleasant Street.
“This is the worst water I have seen and I’ve lived in this area for the last 40 years and in this home for nine years,” LeDoux said. “The water was continuous.”
LeDoux’s wharf house had 2 feet of water or more and her downtown business, Southern Courts, saw massive rainfall, which damaged some of the merchandise.
Further down the street George O’Brien said pumps and sandbags kept floodwaters out of his Pleasant Street home.
“I stayed the first couple of days till the water got above the sandbags,” O’Brien said. “Not knowing what was going to happen and with me being elder, I decided I couldn’t help much, so I left.”
He returned home Sunday to find a saturated front yard, but no water in his house. About 3 inches of water covered his wharf across the street.
“Kudos goes to all the volunteers who came in, hauled and filled sandbags,” O’Brien said. “People came from all over to help. All I can do is say thank you, but that’s not nearly enough for what they did. If it were not for those folks I don’t think we’d won the battle.”
Assistant Police Chief Terrie Guillory said sandbags placed atop the levees kept the town from going under water.
“When they started putting the sandbags out, I didn’t think it would work, but I stand corrected,” Guillory said. “Those guys have saved the town with their idea and it worked.”
Guillory was also impressed with the hundreds of volunteers, including children and members of the National Guard, who filled and stacked sandbags, even in the rain.
“It makes me proud of my city,” Guillory said.
Follow Doris Maricle on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DorisAmPress
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