By Spc. Garrett L. Dipuma, 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
MONROE, La. – More than 15 Louisiana National Guardsmen from the 1022nd Engineer Co. and the 844th Engineer Co. out of West Monroe, Louisiana, have been assembling emergency levee walls on the banks of the Ouachita River in Monroe, Louisiana, to protect the city from rising river levels caused by excessive rainfall, March 13.
These Citizen-Soldiers are working in conjunction with the Tensas Levee Basin District to transform half a mile of hinged concrete slabs, which are usually the sidewalk alongside the river, into a six-foot tall levee.
“This levee is a modular system which can be put up and put down in a day or two,” said 1st Lt. Sean Place of West Monroe.
“Anything we can do to save people’s businesses and lives, that’s what we’re here to do,” said Staff Sgt. Tommy Dunlop of Choudrant, La.
Spc. Elizabeth Fernandez, a Louisiana National Guardsman from the 1022nd Engineer Co. originally from Salem, Oregon, secures emergency barriers on the banks of the Ouachita River in Monroe, La., March 13, 2016. The 1022nd has been constructing the concrete levees to combat rising river levels caused by the excessive rainfall over the past few days. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Garrett L. Dipuma)Staff Sgt. Tommy Dunlop, a Louisiana National Guardsman from the 1022nd Engineer Co. and native of Choudrant, La., secures a concrete barrier wall on the banks of the Ouachita River in Monroe, La. The 1022nd is assembling the half-mile long emergency barrier, which is made from the sidewalk of the riverwalk, to protect the city of Monroe from the rising river that has flooded much of the surrounding community. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Garrett L. Dipuma)More than 15 Louisiana National Guardsmen from the 1022nd Engineer Co. and the 844th Engineer Co. out of West Monroe, La., are assembling emergency levee walls on the banks of the Ouachita River in Monroe, La., March 13, 2016, to protect the city from rising river levels caused by excessive rainfall. The Soldiers are working in conjunction with the Tensas Levee Basin District to transform half a mile of hinged concrete slabs, which are usually the sidewalk alongside the river, into a six foot tall levee. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Garrett L. Dipuma)
