Morganza to connect with SLLD ring system

Due to the established ring levee system that protects south Lafourche, which encloses land from Larose to Golden Meadow, the ongoing Morganza-to-the-Gulf project will not have a tremendous impact on that area.

Yet, the planned connection point between Morganza and the ring system in Cut Off would offer protection to Grand Bois, the Bourg-Larose Highway and even property as north as Thibodaux.

“When it is connected [in Cut Off], it will raise the elevation at the place of connection,” said Windell Curole, executive director of the South Lafourche Levee District. “That’s the only real impact… The biggest [Morganza] advantages are going to be North Lafourche and Terrebonne.

“We’re total utility [in south Lafourche]. We don’t need anybody else, but Terrebonne has to have some kind of flank.”

The Morganza system, after forming a barrier south of Point-aux-Chenes, would take a sharp northeastern turn with Reaches K and L and link up with the South Lafourche ring levee system on Apache-owned property in west Cut Off.

Dwayne Bourgeois, executive director of the North Lafourche Levee District, said the eventual connection would provide immediate, but incomplete, protection for Lockport and the northern areas of the parish.

“I think the levees themselves are going to be a big help, but the final layer of protection is once we’ve closed off all the major channels that come in,” Bourgeois said.

The levee director said Grand Bayou, although protected by Reaches K and L, would still need floodgates to stop the flow of its channels. “Until you close Grand Bayou, you’ve got basically a very big hole in your levee.”

Bourgeois said the system would still need to be closed off from the east side of Larose in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. If not, the integrity of the entire system, stretching as far as Terrebonne Parish, would be compromised by a slow-moving storm that pushes water east to west, he said. “That’s a big, big hole in the system.”

Hurricanes Rita and Ike represented versions of worst-case scenarios for the parish. Although the lack of rain was a relief, the large, slow-moving system pushed water into communities north of the ring system.

Flood elevation levels from Rita reached 3.6 feet in the Lockport area, and the bayous surrounding Thibodaux were at high levels for both storms.

“If we would have gotten a lot of rain [from Rita and Ike], there would have been little place for that to go, but we didn’t get a lot of rain,” Bourgeois said.

The south Lafourche Larose-to-Golden Meadow levee system has proven to be durable and has yet to be breached by floodwater, and the planned connection point between Morganza and the ring system will rely on that legacy.

“I think if it was tied further south, it would take more pressure off the south Lafourche system, but I don’t know what the cost would be because of the environmental impacts,” Bourgeois said.