Hurricane Gustav caused flooding in some areas of New Iberia, downed some trees and branches and left quite a few residents without power when it hit Monday.

By and large, however, the hurricane’s impact was not as bad as it was expected to be. New Iberia officials believe the city and its employees pulled together well before, during and after the storm.

“The West End park — you couldn’t see it. It looked like a river,” said Ernest Wilson, councilman for District 2.

(Use arrows above to view more photos) Advertisement

He said the Shelton, Spencer Loop, Anderson, Lombard and Elizabeth Street areas also flooded badly.

Mayor Hilda Curry said flooding was worst in the West End area, due to the Armenco Canal.

“That’s been happening for a long time,” said Curry. “And of course Front Street — those are some of the worst areas of the city. But it did recede very quickly, and we’re working on it.”

Wilson said he, Councilman Raymond “Shoe-do” Lewis, parish Councilwoman Maggie Daniels and Iberia Parish Councilman Lloyd Brown will put their heads together soon to move the Armenco Canal drainage project forward.

Curry also said she will be working with engineers to get an extensive drainage plan in the city in the next four years, and that New Iberia would have to work with the parish on the outfalls.

The only issue causing consternation among some council members now is a lack of electricity.

“The only problem right now is the power,” said Dan Doerle, councilman for District 6. “More than 50 percent of the district doesn’t have power, and you can’t really find out why. You can’t see major problems in the district itself. Why don’t we have the power back if we don’t have the damage?”

Wilson said the West End is “the first to go down electric-wise and the last to come up.” District 2 does, however, have electricity as of Thursday afternoon, he said.

“The only issue is power,” said Councilman for District 2 Raymond “Shoe-do” Lewis. “CLECO didn’t really get the help (they need) until yesterday — and them guys, they’re working real hard and doing a great job. People just we have to be patient.”

He said with the exception of a few areas in his district, power has returned.

“Power is a little more difficult,” said Curry.

Curry said as of Thursday morning, only 40 percent of the city had electricity. She said that normally there are more crews in the city, but because there is such extensive damage throughout the state, there are fewer crews in town.

Councilwoman Therese Segura and Councilman David Broussard said the main issues in their districts — 1 and 3, respectively — were downed trees and lack of electricity.

“It was a light storm any kind of way you cut the mustard,” said Broussard.

Curry said all the city’s department heads and many city employees stayed during the hurricane to help out, mentioning Public Works, the Fire Department and Parks and Recreation in particular.

“We had so many dedicated employees that stayed here to help us,” said Curry. “I want to thank everyone that took the initiative to stay and make sure the city was taken care of.”

Lewis had high words of praise for the Public Works Department, whose employees he said “worked their behinds off.”

“Public works is your backbone in times like these,” he said.

More than 1,000 residents in Iberia Parish were evacuated via bus, said Curry. The parish estimated that 50 percent of its residents evacuated.

“The only problem that really existed was with the special needs patients,” she said.

Some special needs patients transported to City Park for evacuation were not picked up when they were supposed to be. Instead, they were cared for that night, then picked up the next day.

“Other than that, things seemed to go smoothly,” she said.

Curry said communication between her office and the governor’s office was “much improved” since Hurricane Rita. Curry received two or three calls from the governor’s office to make sure New Iberia had what it needed.

Mayor Pro Tem Freddie DeCourt, who spent three nights at City Hall, said he thinks overall that Iberia Parish President Ernest Freyou, Sheriff Louis Ackal, Curry and Jim Anderson did “a great job.”

DeCourt also rode along with IPSO deputies one night, and Police Liaison Quinten Adcock another. He said it was “impressive” seeing all the law enforcement on the streets and the unconventional methods, like four-wheelers, that they used to “zip between buildings.”

“That wasn’t something I would think a looter or a criminal would be expecting,” he said.

As far as debris clean up, New Iberia contracted Gordon’s Construction and Landfill to a three-year contract for debris removal “long before the hurricane,” said Curry.

They started out immediately after Gustav, said DeCourt, when the winds from Hurricane Gustav were still “thirty or forty miles an hour.”

The 72-hour emergency period determined by FEMA expired Thursday, after which Gordon Doerle, the company’s owner, has said residents will see more crews in the city collecting debris from yards.

“Overall the entire city rallied around this storm and got enough people out,” said Wilson.

“It was much better than the last couple of storms ... and I think it will get better and better.”