HOUMA, LA (AP) — Permitting is moving forward on a stretch of levees to tie storm protection in Terrebonne Parish to flood-banks that have protected Lafourche Parish for decades.
The Courier’s Xerxes Wilson reports completion of the so-called Reaches K and L, which is still several years away, will fulfill the vision of unified protection across the two parishes.
This 10.5-mile section will eventually stretch from Point-aux-Chenes northeast to Cut Off where it will tie into the ring levee system protecting south Lafourche.
Windell Curole, South Lafourche Levee District general manager, said a document assuring financial backing for mitigation of wetland damages for the projects will soon be complete, allowing the permitting process to continue.
Planners also have completed the agreement that will allow multiple state agencies collaborate on the project, he said.
Curole said he is hopeful construction can start on elevating the first reach in spring of next year. Permits have been in the works for two years.
It's estimated construction of the levee reaches and two floodgates will cost around $50 million.
There is money available to pay for design of the levee reaches and floodgates.
Whatever is left over from paying for those designs will be put toward building Reach K, which is about 6 miles long. That will involve taking an existing mitigation levee from about 6 feet elevation to 8 feet.
That levee was built in the '80s to mitigate for wetland disturbance of the south Lafourche system, Curole said.
That levee is going to be elevated by pulling material from nearby Grand Bayou. The project also calls for placement of a floodgate on that bayou.
