Dogwood bridge to remain closed two weeks Play Video

Posted: Nov 4, 2009 11:39 AM
Updated: Nov 4, 2009 12:18 PM

The Red Chute Bayou bridge that connects Stockwell Road in Bossier City with the large Dogwood subdivision to the east will be closed for two weeks while a surface of rock and plastic is laid atop the bayou's levee, authorities said today.

The rock and plastic are not designed to rebuild or raise the levee -- officials promised they would address that after the current crisis was over -- but was to reinforce the levee road that access a long line of sandbags, Bossier City Fire Chief Sammy Halphen said.

Red Chute continued to fall today but it remained over the original top of the levee. Sandbags atop the levee are keeping the rain-swollen bayou from overtopping the levee and flooding neighborhoods near it.

Halphen said sandbagging efforts will continue for two more days. Workers are reinforcing problem areas.

The heavily traveled Dogwood Trail bridge is being used as an access point for levee reinforcement and is needed for construction equipment, Halphen said at a news conference.

"They're not rebuilding. They're reinforcing the (levee) road with rock," said Sandy Davis, head of local homeland security. Raising the levee with a new clay surface is "months down the road," he said.

The biggest area of concern today continued to be far in rural south Bossier Parish, where there is flooding, authorities said.

U.S. 71 south of Elm Grove is being sandbagged to keep the highway open.

Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen said flooding continued today on parts of Lake Bistineau; Poole Road in far south Bossier Parish was under water; and the intersection of Louisiana 154 and Louisiana 157 had flooded this morning.

Deputies have been going to homes in the problem areas advising people to evacuate. Some have done so but most have not, authorities said. Many houses are surrounded by sandbags to keep back the water, but there has been some flooding.

Removal of debris in GreenAcres Place and Brownlee subdivisions in northwest Bossier City, which were hit by a tornado last Thursday, will continue until Sunday, Halphen said. City workers were removing downed trees this morning.

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