Port Fourchon suffers ‘severe damage’ from hurricane

Offshore staff

PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana – Port Fourchon suffered “severe damage” as a result of Hurricane Ida, according to a report by The Advocate of Baton Rouge. Aerial photos of the port taken Monday showed flooding, debris and missing roofs. 

“We had extensive damages to the port,” said Chett Chiasson, executive director at Port Fourchon. “We had pretty strong storm surge from 12 feet to 15 feet.”

By comparison, in 2012 Hurricane Isaac brought 7 feet of storm surge and wind gusts up to 120 miles per hour. 

Port officials were still trying to gauge the extent of damages Monday morning and were making plans to survey the facility by air. The communications towers in the region were down and there was no running water, according to the report.

“We’re still trying to work our way through the roadways to get to it,” Chiasson was quoted as saying. “We might need water trucks, then gas and diesel are going to be critical in the coming days.”  

On a typical day there are 270 large supply vessels at the port and roughly 1,200 trucks traveling through the area to supply more than 250 companies there. 

Essential employees hunkered down at the administrative offices in Cutoff, about 35 miles north of the port. The offices were running off of back-up generators. About 18% of the entire US oil supply passes through the port. 

There were about 40 vessels in the port before the storm hit but there are usually hundreds, the report said. “We know of several vessels that broke loose and moved around but as far as we know nobody is seriously hurt,” Chiasson said. 

Now the port has to assess all navigable waterways and check for underwater debris. Chiasson said he grew up in the area and has rode out many hurricanes, but he said Ida has been the strongest storm. 

08/30/2021