With two passenger ferries already having broken loose due to the wrath of Hurricane Ida, now officials in St. Bernard Parish have confirmed that 22 barges are also drifting free in the Mississippi River, according to WWL-TV’s Paul Murphy.
The Chalmette Ferry was secured and the passenger ferry is grounded, but conditions are too dangerous for the barges to be retrieved at this time. The concern is that one or more of the barges could damage the parish’s water intake system, levees, or oil refineries.
It’s currently unknown exactly when the barges broke loose, and their current whereabouts remain unknown as well.
Hurricane Ida slammed into the Louisiana coastline as a Category 4 storm on Sunday.