Flood protection money on the way

More than $11 million in state and local funds have been designated for two flood protection projects impacting Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, Gov. Bobby Jindal told gathered dignitaries and media in Raceland last week.

The funding will cover the cost of the $8.4 million Cut Off to Pointe-aux-Chenes Levee Project and a $2.9 million renovation of the Walter S. Lemann Pump Station, which is located in Bayou Lafourche in Donaldsonville.

“The investments announced today will enhance storm protection for the region and help folks continue to enjoy the blessing of what Louisiana’s bayous, estuaries, swamps and coast have to offer to the world,” Jindal said.

The levee project will eventually connect the South Lafourche Levee System to the Morganza-to-the-Gulf system. In the meantime, it is expected to serve as an integral surge-impeding boundary in the Terrebonne Basin that would protect Lockport, Raceland and southern Terrebonne Parish.

“It will seem to be pinpointed into one area, but the magnitude of what this is going to represent for this parish is tremendous,” Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph said.

A 250-foot floodgate in the Houma Navigational Canal and a 200-foot floodgate in Grand Caillou Bayou are being developed as part of the state- and local-funded interim Morganza to the Gulf.

The levee project has yet to be designed, so elevation and materials to be used were not immediately available, according to Dwayne Bourgeois, executive director of the North Lafourche Conservation, Levee and Drainage District.

NLCLDD, the South Lafourche Levee District and the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, as well as Terrebonne and Lafourche parish governments, have entered into cooperative agreements of authority over the project.

“It benefits, principally, us in north Lafourche and Terrebonne because it’s there,” Bourgeois said. “Anything that knocks down surge is another level of protection. It will provide us multiple lines of defense.”

Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will contribute $5.4 million in Community Development Block Grant funds toward the project’s cost, with the remainder being shared by CDBG money from local governments. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development dispenses CDBG money to local and state jurisdictions for further allocation.

Construction on the Lemann Pump Station is slated to begin next year. The Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District will operate and maintain the pumps.

The pump station overhaul carries the potential of diverting from the Mississippi River up to 450,000 gallons per minute, which would combat saltwater intrusion and preserve the quality of drinking water, Jindal said.

The governor announced earlier this year that $20 million in Coastal Impact Assistance Program funds would be dedicated to dredging the bayou to increase the capacity for freshwater flow. The first phase of the project, from Donaldsonville to Belle Rose, was recently completed.

“These improvements, along with the $20 million dredging, will certainly preserve our drinking water, not only for Lafourche, but for surrounding parishes and assist our people with ensuring that quality of life,” Randolph said.

State Sen. Norby Chabert (R-Houma) called the announcement another key event in the effort to protect south Louisiana.

“There has been no other administration in the history of this state that has been more committed to coastal restoration and hurricane protection than Gov. Jindal and his administration,” Chabert said.