Matthew Floods Roads, Homes

Heralded by two days of rain that soaked the greater New Orleans area, Tropical Storm Matthew sloshed ashore near Houma early Sunday, followed by higher-than-normal tides that broke the water main to LaPlace, flooded roadways and sent water into low-lying homes.

Some 30,000 LaPlace residents found themselves without tap water as of early Sunday afternoon, after a tidal surge caused a break in the main that brings water to their homes and businesses.

St. John the Baptist Parish school officials closed four LaPlace public schools today: East St. John Elementary School, John Ory Communication Magnet Elementary School, Glade School and LaPlace Elementary School.

"You can't have a school full of children with no water," school system spokeswoman Ann Laborde said.

Water boil ordered

Water service was expected to resume today, but residents were directed to boil all drinking water for 24 hours after service is restored.

As the storm advanced onto land, about 2,500 Entergy customers, including 1,200 in Luling, 200 on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish and 500 in New Orleans, lost power. All but about 160 were restored to service by midday, Entergy spokeswoman Anne Cousineau said.

The National Weather Service continued a coastal flood warning through today, saying that southerly winds would continue to keep tide levels high -- at least 2 to 4 feet above normal -- especially along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The LaPlace water outage occurred after flood waters, pushed ashore Sunday by Matthew, uncovered a buried water line and, about 1:30 p.m., cracked the pipe that feeds the city and its surrounding areas, said Natalie Robottom, the parish's chief administrative officer.

The pipe, which serves about 8,000 households, is the main line from the Ruddock well system into LaPlace. Efforts by parish workers to repair the break Sunday afternoon were complicated by the flooding, Robottom said. In order to repair the break, workers first had to build a dike to hold back floodwaters.

School schedule woes

Laborde said the school closings will put a wrinkle in the district's plan for making up days the school children missed when Hurricane Ivan threatened New Orleans. "We had a plan in mind. Now, this is going to change it again," she said. "I'm glad we hadn't sent letters out to parents already."

While they waited for the water to be restored, LaPlace residents scrambled to collect enough clean water to get them through the night.

At Frank's Super Value grocery store, workers put out every gallon of water they had, and the bottled water aisle was nearly bare by early evening, said Glenda Clark, an assistant manager.

Those who could, drained every drop of water out of their pipes, filling jugs, bathtubs and any other available container.

Jill Raphiel, of LaPlace, managed to fill up two old plastic ice cream containers before her faucets ran dry. She figured that store, combined with a stash of sodas, would be enough to sustain her, she said.

The outage did not affect Reserve and the West Bank of St. John Parish.

Impassable roads

Throughout the New Orleans area, high tides made some roads impassable Sunday and prompted police to restrict traffic flow in neighborhoods where floodwaters crept into homes.

As was the case Saturday, the lone road leading from just south of Golden Meadow to Grand Isle was closed before dawn because of rising water.

By 3 p.m. Sunday, the water had receded enough for police to escort residents who left town back to their homes. The storm pushed 3 or 4 inches of water into a few homes, according to the Grand Isle Police Department.

Elsewhere in Jefferson Parish, floodwaters topping levees were being battled with sandbags and additional pumps Sunday morning in Lafitte, Barataria, and Crown Point, Lafitte Mayor Tim Kerner said.

"We'll keep it out of as many houses as we can," Kerner said.

Sgt. Mary Jo Hargis of the Lafitte Police Department said sightseers were plowing along in their cars and boats, creating wakes that pushed water into homes.

In New Orleans, flooding problems were mostly concentrated in the eastern section of the city along Chef Menteur Highway to the Rigolets.

U.S. 11 between Chef Menteur and Interstate 10 remained closed to traffic Sunday, while the 19000 block of Chef Menteur, not far from the intersection with U.S. 11, was flooded, police said.

Charles Dake, who lives in that block, watched from his house a couple of hundred feet off the roadway as cars and other vehicles stalled as they tried to pass through the area.

Venetian Isles subdivision resident Lydia Comberrel said the floodwater covering the streets in her neighborhood was higher Sunday than before Matthew began its trek inland.

In Slidell, some residents of the Palm Lake subdivision experienced a replay of Tropical Storm Isidore, which pushed a couple of feet of water into their home in September 2002.

Slidell Police Capt. Rob Callahan said Sunday that with some residents reporting rising waters close to their front doors, police were keeping vehicular traffic out of the neighborhood until the floodwater recedes.

Business as usual

At least one business on the Mandeville lakefront, Donz on the Lakefront, was shuttered by the weather. A man who answered the phone there said the place had taken in about 5 inches of water, a turn of events that seemed to leave him unfazed: "It happens all the time," he said.

Plaquemines Parish experienced no flooding, road closures or power outages, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office there said.

In St. Bernard Parish, "There was some minor flooding in Chalmette, but no water got into any houses that we know of," Sheriff's Office Col. Richard Baumy said.

Meteorologist Jim Vasilj of the National Weather Service's Slidell office said New Orleans area residents can look forward to pleasant weather late Wednesday or early Thursday, when a cold front pushes in drier air and highs reaching only into the mid-70s.

The front, with its moderate northwest winds, should help push water out of tidal lakes and decrease water levels to near normal. The nice weather will stick around a couple of days, he said.