A town hall meeting was held Thursday night at the Carl Parker Center to answer community questions regarding the recent levee breech at Taylors Bayou.

To illustrate the importance of the levee, the audience was shown a map of what Port Arthur would look like without the levee.

Port Arthur was under water.

The scenario imagined if Hurricane Ike had breached the city’s protective levee. Ike was a Category 2 storm with the tidal surge of a Category 4 storm.

Of course, that never happened. And, if crews work well enough and if a temporary fix for the levee does its job, it may never happen.

Mayor Derrick Freeman emceed the meeting. Phil Kelley, general manager of the Jefferson County Drainage District 7 and Col. Lars Zetterstrom, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District, were on hand to answer questions.

Kelley said the compromised levee is a maintenance and operations issue for the DD7. County Judge Jeff Branick is currently in Austin seeking emergency federal funding for the project.

In the meantime, the DD7 is waiting on a cost estimate for the temporary emergency repairs that could be in the neighborhood of $10 million.

“We try to keep a fund balance for emergencies, but we also need funds to operate from September to October for the Fiscal Year,” Kelley said. “We have $8 million to contribute to the emergency and have enough funds to finish the year.”

The audience seemed most interested in the day-to-day operations in the ship channel. The channel is expected to remain open for traffic.

Kelley said a load of sand is en route to place sandbags in the washout. He expected the project will be done in several weeks.

If a storm develops and danger is imminent, the Corps and the National Guard will use helicopters to secure the wall.

The source of the washout of the levee is still under investigation.

John Durkay with the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable and who works with industry said several industries are helping through access, material and personnel.

Kelley said the entire levee was just inspected and plans are to use divers with cameras and sonar to inspect below the waterline.