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Ten years after Hurricane Rita, Terrebonne Parish officials say they are working hard to ensure that future storms are not as devastating.
Sept. 24 marked a decade since Rita made landfall on Louisiana’s coast, causing more than $10 billion in damage across the Gulf Coast. In Terrebonne Parish, the storm flooded more than 10,000 homes.
In observance of the event, local leaders and state officials held a discussion at the Terrebonne Library on Wednesday, Sept. 23. They spoke about the damage Rita caused in Terrebonne, and the action the parish has taken to boost its storm defenses since then.
Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a non-profit coastal restoration advocacy group, moderated the discussion. Chip Kline, chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), stressed how vital coastal restoration is in the state.
“Hurricane protection and coastal erosion must be one of the most important issues for any official in Louisiana,” Kline said.
Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Director Reggie Dupre spoke of the parish’s self-reliance regarding storm protection. Following the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Terrebonne expected an influx of federal money to improve hurricane defense. As federal dollars trickled in slowly, Dupre said, the parish learned that it couldn’t wait around.
“The federal government isn’t coming to save you, so you better save yourselves,” Dupre said.
Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet mentioned efforts to improve hurricane defense on the micro level, such as non-structural programs. These programs focus on elevating homes in the area to protect property from flood damage.
According to Claudet, more than 1,000 homes have been raised since 2008.
Peg Case, executive director of the Terrebonne Readiness & Assistance Coalition (TRAC), helped to create the Louisiana Lift House Project, which aims to design sustainable, affordable and elevated homes for low-income bayou residents. During the panel, Case hoped that the parish would continue to aggressively pursue non-structural hurricane protection. Looking toward the future, she even suggested that some small businesses could be elevated as well.
“Think about elevated living everywhere. Imagine what it would look like,”
Case said.
Following the panel, Dupre and others visited the home of Betty Adams on Oleander Street in Chauvin. Adams’s home is the first house built from the Lift House Project. Case said that low-income families with minimal flood insurance might be overlooked in many programs, as the plan is geared toward keeping homes with pricey insurance plans from repetitive claims. Case sees TRAC’s project as a means to provide protection for those families.
“When we saw that opportunity with elevation dollars, we were just nonstop. We wouldn’t let that go until we got our families what they needed,” Case said.
Dupre then took the convoy to two different floodgates in the southern part of Terrebonne. The Bayou Little Caillou Floodgate connects the eastern and western sides of Terrebonne’s Mogranza-to-the-Gulf levee. He also went to the Bubba Dove floodgate, and spoke of future plans to protect the parish.
The largest future project is the Houma Navigation Canal Lock, a $350 million lock that will provide additional storm surge protection. The lock will also help to stop saltwater intrusion into wetlands and restore the balance of fresh and saltwater.
Officials say Terrebonne residents have shown they understand the price tag is worth the improved safety. Residents have voted to raise sales taxes to pay for many of these projects, with the state providing additional money. Kline said the proactive efforts in the bayou stand out in Louisiana.
“This area is unlike any other area in coastal Louisiana. This area does not sit around waiting for the state to implement protection projects,” he said.
‘Hurricane protection and coastal erosion must be one of the most important issues for any official in Louisiana.’
CHIP KLINE
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman
The back of Betty Adams’s elevated house in Chauvin. Adams’s home is the first built by the Louisiana Lift Home Project.
The Bayou Little Caillou Floodgate connects the eastern and western sides of Terrebonne’s Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system. The gate cost $20 million to complete.
