The Armenco canal and the neighborhoods that rely on it to drain its rainwater have been flooding for decades.

They still flood after hundreds of thousands of dollars in drainage projects in the early 1990s.

They still flood after studies and recommendations suggested to Iberia Parish and the city in 2001, three years ago and this September.

From left, Audrey Jackson, Camisha Jackson, Maugrey Jackson and Carolyn Walker Lancelin walk in flood waters on Shelton Street in New Iberia. The area floods regularly during a tropical weather event or heavy rainfall. — Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

They flooded during Hurricane Gustav and its attendant rains.

So what’s the problem?

Some people, including area residents, think the problem has a lot to do with lack of drain maintenance.

The New Iberia Public Works Department asserts the problem is mostly to do with infrastructure that is not up to the task of draining the area.

George Glaubrecht, the Domingue Szabo and Associates engineer that just completed a study of the area at the joint request of the city and the parish, says the problem is both.

In the executive summary of his report, Glaubrecht said drainage was hindered by “numerous problems and obstructions ... despite the fact that only a small sample of the drainage inlets and boxes were opened and observed.”

Those hindrances included debris, grass clippings, branches and even an entire bicycle. This was before Gustav.

Glaubrecht said these hindrances are not all of the problem, but are a contributing factor.

“Certain people want to say it’s all this or all that,” but both improvements to outfall and maintenance and upgrades to local drainage are needed, he said, adding this is a point he and other engineers wanted to make clear.

Glaubrecht said there was no way to estimate how long the debris had been there.

Residents

Local resident Shelton Boutte said infrastructure and maintenance are problems.

Boutte said the system as it stands is not designed well, with overflows at culverts and at least one drain that District 2 Councilman Ernest Wilson said “goes nowhere” and is essentially a covered hole in the ground.

“We need some immediate assistance,” said Boutte, whose house flooded just an inch after Gustav — but enough to ruin his recently refurbished floors.

Some residents got up to 2 feet of water in their homes.

Glaubrecht said secondary causes of problems, not addressed in the study, are related to undersized local drainage culverts, poor slope conditions, inadequate inlet capacity and inadequate gutter grades, as well as inadequate maintenance of silted drainage pipes.

“We do have (a flood zone in the city),” Boutte said. “It’s been there for years, and we need to correct the problem. My goal is just to see that it (a solution) happens.”

Boutte and his wife, Arlene, say they have seen lots of money spent on research, but none on solutions that work.

“You can do anything you want, but until you unclog the drainage back here, nothing’s going to work,” said Arlene.

“There’s a lot of neglect from the city part, there’s no doubt about that,” said Boutte.

‘Filthy’ drains?

Peggy Gerac, former New Iberia councilwoman and candidate for District 2, said the state of the drains prior to Gustav was “filthy.”

“It looks like you’re treating us like some animals back here,” she said, visibly upset.

Gerac says when she was city councilwoman, there were nine major drainage projects done in the West End. Among those are increasing the size of some drainage pipes leading to the Armenco canal.

Gerac largely blames the “cluttered” state of the Armenco canal for the flooding that took place in the days after Gustav.

“We had garfish, alligators and snakes back here,” she said. “Everything came back — and it smelled horrible. This is due to lack of upkeep of drainage in District 2.”

Gerac said it is pitiful, calling the district “forgotten.”

Wilson, up for re-election, said he has seen firsthand that pipes are “piled with mud and debris,” and that he had heard from a previous parish administrtion that pipe size is part of the problem.

Public Works employee Mark Delcambre, however, said they might almost be too large.

Delcambre, who has been with the public works department for more than two decades, said at a Parish Council meeting the pipes in the Armenco canal area are “oversized.”

Parish public works director Kevin Hagerich said debris inside pipes lowers their capacity.

“If you don’t maintain the system, what you actually have is a smaller discharge system,” he said.

On the parish side, Hagerich said prior to Gustav he did not think the canal’s path was in bad shape, but debris tends to collect at low spots.

Hagerich said the parish will soon begin a new plan to address drainage systematically.

“Before, it was more ad hoc,” he said. “That’s not really the right way to run a drainage program.”

James Russell, public works director for New Iberia, said the city is doing “as much as we possibly can do.”

“There are times when there’s a major rainfall where the water just can’t get out, and it’s not a case where the city did not maintain its infrastructure,” he said.

Russell said the city goes out and checks the drains on a regular basis, vacuuming debris out of them. If there are special problems, Russell said the department uses a camera to examine the drains.

They also use a high pressure hose to clean the drains.

Mayor Hilda Curry said the camera is currently broken and undergoing repairs.

All agree the parish and the city need to work together.

Recommendations

In 2001, the Natural Resources Conservation Service surveyed the area at the request of then state Sen. Craig Romero and Parish Councilman Curtis “Joe” Boudoin. They determined, said District Conservationist Charles Stemmans II in a June 2001 letter to then Parish President Will Langlinais, that the area drained into the Bayou Teche in the 1940s.

Out of four options outlined, the best would be to re-establish and improve that Bayou Teche outlet utilizing existing rights-of-way, Stemmans said.

In his recent study, Glaubrecht said the current outfall for the Armenco Canal at the tidal area around Avery Island is “quite distant” and drains “significant other areas in addition” to the Armenco Canal.

He also said that path contains numerous restrictions to flow, like culverts, bridges and debris along that path.

Glaubrecht provided various options in his report, recommending a multi-part solution involving the construction of a new piping system to convey all or part of the stormwater to an outfall at the Bayou Teche, a control structure on the existing Armenco canal outfall near Gilbert Street to allow flow in that direction when possible, and the connection of existing drainage facilities to the new system along the route of the new outfall pipe.

The conceptual phase project cost for that option is estimated at $5.69 million.

Glaubrecht said there are times when the Armenco Canal is down and there is still flooding in the city, which indicates a problem with the drainage system prior to the canal. There are also times, he said, when the canal is up, which means outflow needs to improve.

“I think it’s a combination of both,” said Curry. “I wouldn’t put all the blame on the parish or the city. I think we both need to be more prudent” about maintenance.

She said Glaubrecht will be making the same presentation to the City Council at Tuesday’s meeting.

“No one should have a false hope that one thing or the other will solve the problem,” Glaubrecht said at the Parish Council meeting. “Eventually you’ll have to do both.”

*The Armenco Canal area is based on approximately an eight-mile length from the West End Park to its confluence with Bayou Petite Anse and an assumed top width of 50 feet.

Daily Iberian reporter Heather Miller contributed to this story.