VIDALIA — The Vidalia Riverfront, now covered with water in many locations, looked quite different for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s second visit in as many weeks Friday.

With the river at its highest point ever — 60.05 feet on the Natchez gauge — Jindal and U.S. Sen. David Vitter and Fifth District Rep. Rodney Alexander had plenty to talk about with Concordia Parish officials.

Though water has filled the streets and parking lots for the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center and the two medical facilities on the riverfront, the buildings remain dry behind rows of sandbag levees.

“This has been a true team effort,” Jindal said. “Everyone has worked together to protect the riverfront. This infrastructure is very important to the entire community.”

Vitter toured the riverfront for the first time and was also amazed at the city’s efforts to flood-proof the riverfront.

“The Hesco baskets are holding up extremely well,” he said.

Vitter said during these trying times, he is working his hardest to try and address any need that arises.

Representatives from the riverfront’s four businesses posed one area of concern to the senator regarding river traffic.

When vessels travel along the Mississippi River through the Miss-Lou, they create wake problems for the riverfront, business owners said.

The representatives from the riverfront requested that Vitter work to try and make the area near the riverfront a “no wake zone.”

This would not mean traffic would stop going through the area, only that it slow down to create less of a wake near the riverfront.

Vitter said he was going to call the U.S. Coast Guard to work on the problem, and he also suggested that representatives from the riverfront also call to report they are having problems with the wake as well.

“As far as I know, they have never closed down large stretches of the river,” he said. “But it may be necessary to slow traffic down with the height of the water. If it is required, then (the Coast Guard) will do it.”

Federal disaster aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency was recently made available to Adams County residents, and many Concordia Parish residents asked Vitter if this would soon happen in the parish.

“If there is significant flood damage the president has to make a disaster declaration before an area can receive the help,” he said. “Damage wise, there hasn’t been as much here as there has been in the Memphis and Mississippi Valley areas.”

Vitter said since the aid is purely based on damage and flooding, Concordia would receive federal aid if there were an emergency.

With the Bonnet Carré Spillway outside of New Orleans opened to full capacity as of Friday, Jindal said he believed the Morganza Spillway outside of Baton Rouge would be next.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have approval to open the spillway, but no exact date or time has been set as of Friday afternoon.

Vitter said Morganza was originally planned to be opened to half capacity, but that has now been moved to 22 percent.

“This is a lot less than they thought,” he said.

Vitter also said the opening of the spillway would have little to no affect on the Miss-Lou.

“The impact lies mainly south of the spillway and a few miles north of it,” he said.

If the spillway is open, Jindal said the cities and towns around Morganza face the risk of flooding, and the state is doing whatever it can to help residents in those areas prepare to evacuate in case of flooding.

Jindal said the state is continuing to provide any help it can to its residents.

“We are doing what we can to make sure are people are prepared,” he said. “We want to protect lives first and property second.”

Concordia Parish also received some news regarding the state of its 2011 evacuation plan Friday.

After parish officials met with the Corps and Fifth District Levee Board, a decision to keep the parish at level 2 of the evacuation plan was made.

Level 2 calls for the pre-planning of home and property evacuation and the pre-packaging of personal and irreplaceable property.

Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell said while the levee system remains under constant scrutiny, everything looks fine.

Concordia Parish Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said there were a few sand boils around the levee, but nothing to be concerned about.

“They are all being taken care of,” he said. “We have no trouble spots, and we are very confident that our levee system is going to hold.”

Maxwell also reminded the group that emergency assistance from around the state would be available to the area in case of an emergency.

“Everything is in place that we know of,” he said. “I feel like we are prepared for anything.”

Maxwell wanted to let residents know that it is impossible to know what affect a break in the levee would have in the parish, because a breach at any spot on the levee would have completely different results than if it were to happen at another area.