Abbeville able to dodge major damage, flooding from Barry

Monday morning in Abbeville looked normal, with people going about the start of the week.
Thankfully for people in the city, the events of the weekend didn’t leave many routines flipped upside down.
Hurricane/Tropical Storm Barry made landfall on Saturday. The effects of this storm spared the city of any major flooding and wind damage.
“We were very blessed,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said Monday morning. “We only had a total of seven inches of rain the whole weekend, according to the rain gauge we have at the sewer plant. We did have some power outages, but nothing that lasted more than a couple of hours.”
Crews were ready to go ahead of the storm.
“Our electrical crews were on standby the whole weekend,” Piazza said. “We had three additional crews from out of town that were on standby.
“We fought those outages Saturday night and into the day on Sunday.”
As of about 4 p.m. on Sunday, Piazza said all residences were back up and running with electricity.
“They fought it all night long on Saturday,” Piazza said of electrical crews. “We were able to keep the lights on most of the night, in most areas.
“They went above and beyond in the electrical department.”
The effort to keep the city running extended to every aspect.
“All departments did an excellent job,” Piazza said. “Fire and police, those guys were busy all weekend long. They worked some long hours to make sure the city was safe. We manned the telephones at city hall all weekend long. Members of the City Council helped with the phones and were out helping our workers.
“It was a joint effort from everyone.”
Piazza said city officials also worked closely with the Vermilion Parish Police Jury and the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office prior to the storm as well as after the storm.
“We made sure everyone was safe, and everything went well,” Piazza said.
After seeing flooding in eastern parts of Vermilion Parish and heavy damage suffered in St. Mary parish and other areas, Piazza reiterated the sentiment shared by many Abbeville residents.
“There are some areas that were hit hard by this storm,” Piazza said. “We were fortunate.”