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Barry proves no match for the City of Franklin

City comes together to recover after Barry
Posted at 8:19 AM, Jul 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-17 09:19:22-04

Storm recovery continues across Acadiana.

St. Mary parish was one of the areas hardest hit by Barry. Following the storm, Franklin city leaders are showing us what they're doing in the aftermath.

Abby Breidenbach was live on GMA with the details.

Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard shared with KATC exactly how the city is working to pick itself back up after Hurricane Barry.

Foulcard says the city has responded well to the recovery efforts

"We have a very resilient city, we are going to bounce back," says Foulcard. "Our city has responded very well, as far as, working with us to clear the streets and clear the storm drains. We are very appreciative of our city."

The term Franklin Strong has helped to bring the residents together to clean the city now that Barry has moved on.

City of Franklin discusses recovery efforts ( pt 1)

The Franklin Fire Department responded to almost 100 calls over the weekend as Barry made landfall.

Many of those included downed power lines and trees that kept many of the firefighters working around the clock.

Not only were firefighters helping residents but also wildlife. Two young hawks were injured during the storm on Saturday.

The first, brought in with a broken wing, was named Barry by rescuers. Firefighters say that Barry was picked up by the Audubon Institute and has received surgery. Unable to fly, Barry will remain at the zoo for demonstrations.

A second hawk, given the name Frankie, was also brought to firefighters and has been picked up and is currently in the car of a parish resident.

Franklin Fire talks about their busy weekend during Barry

Assistant to the Mayor Tiger Verdin talks about how the city's public works department has taken the initiative to make sure the city is back on it's feet.

Verdin says that employees were out on the streets over the weekend right alongside the Franklin Police and Fire departments to assist with the recovery.

Public Works steps up to help with Barry recovery

One of those recovery efforts came in the form of the storm drain challenge which was started, unknowingly, by Franklin Police Chief Morris Beverly.

Chief Beverly says that after seeing public works clearing streets, he stepped in to help them remove debris from storm drains. The efforts took off after one Franklin resident, 9-year-old McCarley, saw the photos and started cleaning up her yard and the yard of her elderly neighbor.

She called her efforts the "The Chief Beverly Challenge" and asked people in the community to tag themselves cleaning up using a hashtag with the challenge name.

Abby Breidenbach will have more from McCarley and her project tonight on KATC.

Storm drain challenge helps keep Franklin dry during Barry