Crews continue to fill in Katrina Cut

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Alabama (WALA) - Crews are using thousands of pounds of stone to fill Katrina Cut on Dauphin Island as a measure to keep oil out of the Mississippi Sound and back bays.

Dump trucks full of rocks are slowly filling in Katrina Cut at the west end of Dauphin Island.

Mark Saunders, with Thompson Engineering, says the berm will be made of sand and huge rocks.

"What you can see out where the barges are dropping the rock are two piles of rock and in between that rock we are going to pump sand and then on top of that sand we are going to pile another later of rock which is the armor stone, these are big large rocks that will resist the waves," explained Saunders.

More than 800 feet of the berm has already been completed. Crews are getting as much work done on the mile and half stretch as they can while the weather is good, and the water is calm.

Saunders said the berm is only designed to withstand a category one storm.

"Well, we had some delays due to weather. Hurricane Alex came through and caused us a good week of delays, but we are getting back on schedule. We have an extra crane coming in today and we are putting more assets on the job to get right back on schedule," Saunders said.

The project is supposed to completed by mid September.

BP is paying for the project which has a price tag of about $15 million.