St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, Councilman Gene Bellisario, and Councilman Ritchie Artigue got a look at the lower Pearl River Basin by helicopter late this afternoon.  

They report that water is still moving swiftly through the Pearl and its tributaries.

It appears that the crest has passed the Town of Pearl River, Davis Landing and is passing the Cross Gates area officials say.  

The crest is predicted to pass all critical areas in St. Tammany Parish no later than 11:00PM tonight.

From the helicopter, they say they observed channels off the Pearl that were cut or reopened by Hurricane Katrina and appear to be handling more water than previously assumed.  This correlates to observations in 2009 when the river crested at 19.22 feet.

The officials say unless something untoward occurs, it appears there will be no major flooding along the basin at this time.