Highway 70 reopens near acre of liquefied swampland

NAPOLEONVILLE — Ascension Parish officials have reopened a four-mile section of highway near an acre of swampland that liquefied into soupy muck, toppling tall bald cypress trees and bending a 400-foot-long section of a natural gas pipeline toward the liquid acre.

Louisiana Highway 70 crosses over three natural gas pipelines at the edge of the liquefied area. Assumption Parish emergency preparedness director John Boudreaux says it was closed while the gas was rerouted and crews worked to empty those sections of pipe. A fourth pipeline, not so near, was also closed off and was being depressurized.

About 150 homes and several businesses in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas remain under mandatory evacuation and a shelter remains open.