ST. MARY PARISH — Residents in Franklin spent nearly 14 hours without water from Friday into early Saturday after city officials said a water main break and pump failure disrupted service.
For Skippy Hebert, the outage created added strain at home.
“All this stuff effects affects her more than it effects affects me because she doesn't understand, she doesn't understand why she can't flush the water, why she can't turn the water on, she does not understand that, which puts more stress on her which in turn puts more stress on me.”
Hebert said his wife has dementia, and the sudden loss of water made an already challenging situation more difficult.
“When I know something's gonna happen, I prepare for it, I get buckets, I have water so I can at least flush the toilet and we didn't have that warning.”
Several residents said they felt left in the dark when water issues hit, with some saying they turned to social media for updates and hoping the city improves how it communicates during emergencies.
City leaders said the trouble began Thursday with a water main break. By Friday, a larger issue developed at the water plant.
Bernard Daniels, Franklin’s utilities director, said crews were working near the raw water intake to prepare for Phase Two of the water plant rehabilitation when the pumps failed.
“While we were dredging, these pumps sucked in some silt and sand, which caused the two that we were using, to become inoperable, then we had to move to a secondary plan which today seems to be working out fine.”
The city brought in a bypass pump from Coastal Pumps, restoring service early Saturday morning.
Mayor Eugene Foulcard said the city has worked for years to address the aging system. He noted the outage happened just one day after the Franklin City Council approved moving forward with Phase Two of the water plant rehabilitation — the phase that includes replacing the same pumps that failed.
“Ive never hidden from the fact that, we have issues with our water plant, we are attempting to address it.”
Foulcard also acknowledged concerns about how residents receive information during emergencies.
“I am working to get communication lines resolved because social media should not be the only way residents receive updates."
Foulcard said the city remains under a boil advisory but anticipates it being lifted late Tuesday or early Wednesday. He said he remains optimistic about the efforts underway to rehabilitate the city’s water plant and reduce the likelihood of similar disruptions in the future.
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