Kenner Police Chief says Hurricane Francine dumped over 10 inches of water on the city

This is kind of a what we were really, really hoping was not going to happen with the storm. That would be more mild. Unfortunately, you know, we got hit kind of two ways both with the water through the spillway that we're seeing there. And then from this uh inundation of rain and frankly, some failures of the drainage systems in the two areas, pumps going down, power problems happening in New Orleans. Uh you know, it has been difficult parish again. You know, we just spoke with parish president said the sh she said, you know, she doesn't necessarily have ears on every part because there are a number of municipalities in Jefferson Parish. One of those, one of the biggest is the city of Canada and the police chief in KK. Police chief. Keep Conly is joining us by phone tonight to give us an update on what happened there. Chiefly. Do we have you? Yes, ma'am. We, we're doing ok. We're hanging in there. Thanks for asking. Um We wanted to find out what's going on in Canada. We heard from Scott Walker earlier tonight that there were some homes that had trees through them and that there may have been some people rescued from some homes. What's the status in Kenner? I can tell you we're still doing our early assessments. We kind of got slammed. K got over 10 inches of water. Uh Francine stayed over us for a long period of time, just dumping water on us. Uh We have had flooding from the lake to the river. Um Currently, we're, we're doing rescue operations, uh where we're getting calls of people that have water in their homes and they, you know, they're scared. So we're getting, trying to get to them. Uh We're assisting our local uh our, our partners and, and transport and critical care patients from locations to hospitals. Um You know, we're doing everything we can to get people the help they need. Um So that is, you know, that is the situation in Kenner. I'm about to go back out and do some more assessments, but we did get a lot of rise, you know, water rising water. Um And especially after the storm and I know that there's going to be widespread reports of water intrusion in people's homes. Um, vehicles, vehicles, we have vehicles stalled and stalled and stranded throughout the the city. Um So we, we, we're gonna have a massive clean up. Uh in order here in Kenner, do you have any indication of how many homes have water in them and how much water has made its way into people's home? Our reports are just ankle deep, shin deep things of that nature. Um, just enough to, um, you know, to cause the, the water damage that, that, you know, they're gonna have to have to deal with. But, um, no, we, I do not have numbers. I just have pretty much a windshield survey but it's gonna be pretty widespread two inches or 3 ft. You know, once you get that water in there, it, it almost doesn't matter. Yeah. Um, uh, any idea about you, you mentioned that you were doing some rescues. Uh, are we talking a lot of rescues like two or three handful? Uh, at this to this moment, we have 25 rescues that, um, we're working on, um, you know, throughout the city of Kenner and what areas are we talking about with the greatest amount of water where you're having to go get people out. It is all throughout Kenner from the north all the way to the south. Wow. How much floodwater like? Is it extremely deep? I mean, can people walk in it, I guess is the question in some areas when the officers got out because they had to walk to some of these rescues just to check on the residence when vehicles couldn't get down the street. Um, they were up to their waist and, and water. Um, so in some areas they were up to their shins and their knees and it would progressively get worse to their waist and we find it's close to where the drainage canals run. Uh, we feel that the, the water might have run over the drainage canals banks and, you know, flooded the, uh, flooded the city in that nature. Ok. So it's the backups in the drainage system there that we're hearing about. Similar to what is happening in New Orleans. I mean, uh, in the rest of Jefferson parish in meter and other places. Yeah. II, I don't know what, what's going on outside of Kenner, but that would be consistent with, with that information. Anybody injured, anybody hurt, don't have any reports of any injuries. But we, you know, we're still assessing the, the, the assistance that we're given to the EMS and paramedics are more cardiac care events, um, pregnancy related issues, things of that nature at this time. Ok. Well, that is a relief. Hopefully those people are getting taken where they need to go into the hospitals that hopefully have power and access to them. Uh, given the, the amount of water that's everywhere out there. Um, anything else that you want to let people know? I mean, what can we let people know for you? Um, as we move through this, this emergency situation overnight, I let people know just to be patient that, you know, all your first responders, police fire ems, they're out in the field and the best they can, um, overwhelmed. I know that we're handling, you know, uh, any calls that we get the best we can. We're getting to the ones that, you know, certainly where human, uh, life, uh, you know, is, is, is in danger of, you know, we're prioritizing the calls but we're not making, um, priorities out of some of the calls. I know we have vehicles going through flooded streets and neighborhoods. So we're gonna ask people not to do that. We're gonna have work with the city to set up barricades and uh to prevent that from happening. But we have to take care of some of these critical calls first as we prioritize them. So if, if people can just stay patient, we're here. We have over 100 and 50 people um that have been called out into full activation and uh we're working around the clock to, to take care of our, our citizens here in Kenner. Yeah, there is no greater priority than human life. So that is good to hear that. That is top of mind. Uh Keith, uh Chief Conley, thank you so much for being with us tonight. Um We appreciate that update and we'll check back in with you as this emergency continues to unfold.