Army, Air National Guard teams with local citizens to stem breached levee

Photo By Master Sgt. Paul Meeker | A Chinook from the Army National Guard hauls sandbags to a Plaquemines Parish levee with a 300 foot breach, Sept. 3, 2008. According to Mike Rossi of the Plaquemines Parish Operations Center, the goal is to drop as many bags as it takes to fill the gap.  

MYRTLE GROVE, UNITED STATES

09.04.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Paul Meeker 

241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

By Sgt. 1st Class Paul Meeker
241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

MYRTLE GROVE, La. -- A levee protecting pastureland and small communities in the Myrtle Grove area of Plaquemines Parish, La., ruptured during Hurricane Gustav, Sept. 1, 2008.

National Guard Chinook helicopters were commissioned to drop 500-pound sandbags into the 300-foot breach. Guardsmen teamed with Plaquemines Parish emergency operations personnel and workers from Hard Rock Construction Company to secure up to four sandbags at a time to the bellies of the Chinooks. Gov. Bobby Jindal reported on Sept. 4 that the breach was 50-percent filled and further erosion halted after 175 bags were dropped on Sept. 3.

• Date Taken: 09.04.2008
• Date Posted: 09.04.2008 20:22
• Story ID: 23217
• Location: MYRTLE GROVE, US