Local battle sparks talks of preserving the area’s past
November 5, 2014Local, state and federal governments await oil spill payout
November 5, 2014
Some residents along the the Intracoastal Canal in Larose can breath easy after the Lafourche Parish Council was finally able accept more than $5 million in grant money for a floodwall drainage project.
The resolution, approved 6-0 with three absences by the council last Tuesday, approves the federally funded agreement between the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Lafourche Parish Government.
The sum was made available to the parish through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in 2008 after the area initially made inroads for financial help for the project in 2005, according to councilman L. Phillip Gouaux, however the project kept getting delayed.
“They kept asking for all kinds of engineering stuff that delayed the project until now. We kept furnishing that, and they had to review what we furnished back and forth,” the councilman said.
The project will take place between North American Shipyard and Hamilton Street, according to Gouaux. It will consist of the construction of a seawall followed by “as much drainage work as we have money available,” he said.
“Whether it’s enough or not we’ll look at where we are and try to get some additional monies if we need,” he added.
The councilman called the project one of the most needed ones in the parish.
“This area of Larose is the most vulnerable area in the parish,” Gouaux said. “It has not had any flood protection ever, and with the sinking of our lands, that area becomes more and more vulnerable every year. Whenever we have a threat we have to build makeshift levees out of sand and visqueen to protect all the homes from the intracoastal in Larose.”
Lafourche Parish Councilman L. Phillip Gouaux called this area of Larose along the Intracoastal Canal the most vulnerable area in the parish to flooding. A more than $5 million grant will result in a floodwall and drainage project to alleviate those concerns.
