Emergency on Caldwell Parish Levees

With the threat of more rain on the way, Caldwell Parish is under a state of emergency.

Tuesday the Tensas Levee District and Parish Police jury declared the emergency.

Now the Department of Homeland security has also called for a state of emergency.

That’s because levees along the Ouachita River near Columbia are in critical danger and could wash away.

Ruby Smith watches the Ouachita River get closer to her Columbia home as her levee washes away by the day.

"In places you could walk down to the river because the land was so good in places, now it’s just a straight drop off," said Smith.

Smith has lived near the levee for over 20 years and she says what was once trees and a bank has slowly fallen away.

With more levee falling into the Ouachita everyday some residents worry what could happen as the water gets higher.

And over the last month Smith says the levee looks more like a cliff leaving little protection for her or anyone else.

"Because the dirt underneath it is all red and we know it's caved in. You can see it bubbling up and it's daily we hear it daily sometime three or four time a day."

It's that bank caving in that caused the Tensas Levee District to declare an emergency and scramble to move a bank stabilization project from the end of the year to Friday.

"We're obviously going to have a rise on the river unless we get lucky and miss that rainfall so what we're going to have to do is secure this area," said district director John Stringer.

District director John Stringer met with Homeland Security Wednesday.

He says a company called Pine Bluff sand and gravel is right now moving five barges of rock to start stabilizing the bank Friday morning.

"They'll be able to work from barges in the river and place the rock rain or shine. I’m not sure how long it'll take, a couple days at least," said Stringer.

Caldwell Homeland Security Director Dale Powell says he feels confident the rocks will hold in time but they must prepare for the worst.

"We can call in the National Guard if necessary and get additional sandbags if necessary and state help eventually," said Powell.

Despite the uncertainty of the levee Smith says she's not going anywhere, she's just hoping the rocks will hold and that a time will come when she can breathe easy again.

Caldwell Parish Homeland security says sandbags will be available for residents.

They can be found at the Caldwell Parish Correctional Center in Clarks from 8 a.m. to 5

p.m. daily.