7:32: Up to 200 homes in Plaquemines Parish could be at risk because of a levee being over topped. The Caernarvon Diversion levee is near the St. Bernard Parish line. It’s a private levee which means isn’t part of the federal levee system. Hurricane Katrina seriously damaged the levee three years ago and people living nearby had about ten feet of water in their homes. After Katrina, the Parish rebuilt the levee and raised it to about 8 feet. Despite their efforts, at about 3pm the levee was over topped.

The Caernarvon Diversion Levee protects the Braithwaite area. About 125-200 homes in Braithwaite could be impacted by floodwaters. There were people who stayed in Braithwaite to ride out the storm but it’s not known how many. Now they’re being urged to get out. The Sheriff’s Department is going door to door to help while Parish employees try to build up a section of the levee with sandbags

5:35: We are cautiously hopeful. Listening to the latest press conference about Hurricane Gustav, it looks like the majority of the region was able to escape major damage. In terms of flooding, there’s some reported in the Upper Ninth Ward because of overtopping, but the Army Corp of Engineers says New Orleans city pumps will take care of it. They’re also keep an eye on the Industrial Canal which has had “overlapping.”

Some of the areas they’re worried about are the southern coastal spots, places like Plaquemines Parish, Lafourche Parish and Grand Isle in Jefferson Parish. I haven’t been to Plaquemines, but I know they had evacuated all but a handful of employees, but then made a desperate call for contractors and employees to help build a sandwall to protect Belle Chasse. As for Lafourche, we had driven down to the southern tip, a community called Port Fourchon, for a story on Gulf drilling. From there we had jogged over to Grand Isle. It’s a stretch of mostly vacation homes and such on a strip of island. You could see how it might fare poorly in a hurricane. Officials says they haven’t heard much from these areas because power is out. They’ll start doing damage assessments from the air tomorrow.

We’re doing live shots on Canal outside our hotel just on the edge of the Quarter. It looks fine except for some minor damage, signs and trees batted around.