Levee work advances in Lafourche Parish

Levee and floodwall improvements are making progress at several floodwall locations within the Larose-to-Golden Meadow hurricane protection area.

Windell Curole, the general manager of the South Lafourche Levee District, said work has been completed on the floodwall near Apache Oil offices in southern Golden Meadow. A longtime concern for levee officials, the structure at this location now stands at a height of 16 feet above sea level. The wall was also covered in dirt to add strength against storm surges. Prior to improvements being made, the wall was at a height of 11.5 feet.

One of the most vulnerable spots in the level system had been the floodwall near a pump station and behind Golden Meadow Junior High School, on the west side of Bayou Lafourche. Sheet piling, originally driven to a depth of between 13 and 17 feet offered a protection height of 11.5 feet above sea level. Improvements call for the new piles to be driven to a depth of 47 feet with a protection height of 14 feet. This project is being funded and overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is $7.5 million in levee improvement money from Hurricane Katrina.

“This area near the pump station has always been considered one of the most vulnerable areas in the system and we fell that these improvements will go a long way to bolstering our defenses here against a surge,” Curole said. Work at this area is expected to be complete by mid-August.

Work is also under way to raise 14,000 feet of floodwall along the Intracoastal Waterway in Larose. When completed, the floodwall will be increased from a height of 8 feet to 10.5 feet. This work also calls for deeper sheet piles.

Current pilings are entrenched 7 feet, whereas the new plans call for the pilings to be placed 17 to 20 feet into the ground to provide greater stability.

Improvement work should be complete by the height of hurricane season in early to mid-August. Curole noted that the remaining portion of the floodwall in Larose will be raised, but no timeline has been placed on that project.