New flood gate to help with flooding in Ascension Parish

ASCENSION PARISH, La. (WAFB) - Frank Bonifay grew up on this bayou.

“I’ve been here since my childhood. My mom and dad bought me fishing here, right there where the battle lay, and I was 5-6 years old. My sisters were here with us,” he said.

Neighbors have seen flooding for years.

“When the water starts going down there, there’s the volume is so heavy that it just washes out the road. So, they need to do something,” Denise Aydell said.

But Ascension Parish is doing more flood mitigation work, and neighbors are hopeful.

“(Tuesday) is the day that we see great success with hydrology. The Fish Bayou locks have been completed. Those locks are going to save seven days. It will be a reduction of seven days in innovation to our community,” Bonifay said.

The new flood gate on Alligator Bayou Road in Prairieville opens and closes depending on how much rain falls.

Along with dredging, the hope is that new projects will allow water to flow easier and stay out of homes.

Bonifay is happy local and state governments are helping this area out.

“I feel good about the future for this area, and it can be opened again to where when we saved it in 1993, these old growth forest trees, will still be here to inspire the children, the thousands of children that we taught. This is important. This is what we need to show the world. A beautiful Louisiana,” Bonifay said.

The total cost of the flood gate at Alligator Bayou Road was $3.5 million and was paid for by the East Ascension Drainage Board and the Pontchartrain Levee District.

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