Damage from Hurricane Laura Impedes Navigation at Lake Charles

The cleanup effort for the aftermath of Hurricane Laura continues near Lake Charles, Louisiana and Port Arthur, Texas, two important Gulf Coast energy ports which were heavily affected by the storm. As many as 2,100 aids to navigation may have been affected by the hurricane – about 10 percent of the total for the entire district – including buoys damaged or moved off station.

More than a dozen Coast Guard units are now participating in channel assessments, identifying and fixing ATON outages and reviewing channel surveys to bring all waterways back online.

The Sabine-Neches Waterway, Port Arthur, Sabine, Orange and Beaumont, Texas have now reopened with restrictions. Vessels of more than 500 GT are restricted, and night operations are closed in one section due to a sunken drydock in the waterway. This obstruction is also creating traffic delays for barge tows, the Coast Guard said. 

Downed powerlines have shut the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Orange and Lake Charles. The waterways in Cameron and Lake Charles are also still closed as efforts to evaluate ATON and survey channels proceed. 

“Mariners should use extreme caution transiting through waterways in Lake Charles and Port Arthur due to aids to navigation outages and floating debris,” said Chief Warrant Officer Matt Fonville, Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston, aids to navigation officer. “We are still assessing damages but our teams are working extremely hard to recover and set aids back on their assigned position."
 

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