Posted on June 26, 2023
A project announced today in Southwest Louisiana is designed to lower the risk of flooding along the coast, and it includes raising hundreds of homes in the flood plain.
Federal and state officials say Southwest Louisiana is at high risk of flooding from tidal surge and waves from hurricanes, and with sea level rise and other factors, the potential for coastal flooding is expected to increase.
The Southwest Coastal Louisiana Risk Reduction Project is a $6.5 billion effort to lower the risks in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermillion parishes. The money will be given out incrementally to raise homes at risk of flooding and restore the ecosystem to reduce flooding.
“In the initial funding we’re going to receive is going to enable us to elevate between 800 and 1,000 homes,” said Col. Cullen Jones with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “There are 27 ready for the program, and we are ready to let a contract as early as January of next year. But in addition to that, we are looking at adopting shoreline restoration of approximately 11 miles in Southwest Louisiana.”
Maj. Gen. Diana Holland said there is a definite need for the project.
“This money will be used to elevate at-risk structures in the 100-year flood plain, and it’s the largest ever nonstructural project in our region’s history, and it’s one of the largest projects of its kind in the country,” she said.
Laurie Cormier from Lake Charles has served on the Louisiana Coastal Restoration and Protection Board for more than 10 years.
“I’ve been fighting for this project for a really long time and it’s a happy day for me,” said Cormier.
What is so meaningful, she said, is that what’s planned is our legacy to children and grandchildren.
”So, for years and years, this will be my grandchildren. My grandchild Marvin Jack, he will be seeing the benefits of this. But this doesn’t mean they’re not starting because it’s starting soon. And we just had the major general with the Army Corps tell us it’s starting.”
The project is a 65/35 split between the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Louisiana.
To learn more about the project, click HERE.
