U.S. Congressman Garret Graves announced today that long-overdue hurricane protection improvements for Ascension, Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James Parishes – officially named the Upper Barataria Basin Project – is advancing. Just yesterday, the Corps of Engineers released the final project features to be constructed. Graves and his chief of staff, Paul Sawyer, were responsible for directing the Corps to develop hurricane protection solutions for this region. Graves has committed to authorize the project for construction in federal law in the Water Resources Development Act this year.
“How many times does Highway 90 have to flood before action is taken? We had major evacuation routes like U.S. Highway 90 going underwater even before Hurricane Ida made landfall. This is completely unacceptable. We must stop this storm and tidal surge from flooding our roads, homes and communities and do it in a way that doesn’t contribute to coastal land loss. The Upper Barataria project will do just that,” Graves said.
The recommendations include improving St. Charles Parish levees south of the Luling and Boutte areas (Sunset drainage levees), a barge gate, floodwalls and extending levee protection south and east of Highway 90 toward Matthews, Louisiana — a total of approximately 30 miles. The hurricane protection features are designed to effectively slow or stop storm and tidal surge from advancing north and west from Lakes Salvador and Cataouatche into communities adjacent to the Lac Des Allemands Basin. These communities have had repetitive flooding from hurricanes and tidal surge.
“Rather than just making our homes worthless by charging unaffordable flood insurance rates, the solution is to build better protection and make our families safer. The Upper Barataria hurricane protection project does just that,” Graves continued.
This announcement comes after $8 million was secured recently for engineering and design of the Upper Barataria project. This will help to expedite implementation.
“Within one month of Hurricane Ida making landfall, we were able to pass a law with billions of dollars in recovery funding and flood protection investments for Louisiana. After months of working with top Corps and White House officials, billions of dollars in key hurricane protection, flood control, levee improvements and dredging are on the way,” Graves said. “We fought for the $8 million in new federal funding to advance the Upper Barataria hurricane protection project in that Hurricane Ida recovery legislation. There is levee protection in nearby areas, but this project and funding address the Achilles’ heel in our vulnerability. Years ago, we decided to look at a fundamentally different approach to increasing hurricane protection in the area, and I am glad to see the efforts paying off.”
