PORT BARRE, La (KLFY) – Residents in the town of Port Barre are finally starting to see some relief from the flooding.
More than a dozen families lost everything after Bayou Courtableau poured over into several neighborhoods.
“I’ve never seen flooding this bad in Port Barre,” said Port Barre Police Chief, Deon Boudreaux. “Its flooded before, but not like this.”
“This not my first rodeo, but it’s horrible,” said Port Barre resident, Gwendolyn Bergeron.
Bergeron says she’s no stranger to battling the floodwaters, however, she says this particular battle was one like no other.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen in like 10 years,” said Bergeron. “They have houses that have never even had water in their yards, and now they have water in their houses.”
Bergeron says she woke up last Friday morning to find her home completely surrounded and filled with water.
“The water must’ve come up like 5-6 ft. within 20 minutes,” said Bergeron.
Bergeron says she not only lost her home, but her family pet as well.
“I have a cat in there and I can’t even get him out,” said Bergeron. “I don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
Bergeron says moving forward the hardest part is knowing that the place her and her grandchildren once knew will never be the same.
“It’s hard because they cry every night they want to go home and they can’t, but I am thankful to God that we did walk out with our lives,” said Bergeron.
The town was fortunate to not have any fatalities during the historic flooding.
Port Barre Police Chief, Deon Boudreaux, says he and his officers worked around the clock to make sure everyone remained safe, and Chief Boudreaux praises the efforts of community members for not being afraid to also help one another.
“We were walking through the neighborhoods going house to house and people were telling us, “Hey, I have a boat, you want to use it?”, and we did, so this town pulls together when things like this happen,” said Chief Boudreaux.
The Port Barre Police Department is collecting items for the flood victims. If you’d like to make a donation they can be dropped off at the police station.
