(By Nolan Mckendry/The Center Square) — The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority met on Wednesday to discuss the status of various ongoing projects, one of which is elevating homes in flood-prone areas.
The US Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans district revealed a flood protection project which will elevate nearly 3,500 residential properties, 342 non-residential properties and 157 warehouses. The project is expected to cost more than a billion dollars.
Another project from the Corps of Engineers will work to restore the coast’s marshes and ecosystem. The project includes nine marsh restoration features, five shoreline protection and stabilization features and 35 chenier restoration features with an estimated cost of $5.5 billion dollars.
Cheniers are narrow ridges of sand, gravel or shell formed inland from a shoreline by wave action.
Homes will first be elevated next month, though the first residential elevation will begin on Wednesday, according to Nathaniel Weander, Deputy Commander of the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
USACE expects to raise 800 to 1,000 structures with the Community Projects Funding. Currently, 19 structures are ready to be raised. Further, two to three miles of shoreline protection will be constructed at Rockefeller Refuge.
Currently, the CPRA has 109 active projects from hurricane protection and marsh creation to shoreline protection and flood diversion.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the project, with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority acting as the non-federal sponsor.
CPRA officials told The Center Square that 65% of funding will come from federal sources and 35% from CPRA. CPRA’s share is drawn from state funds and revenue generated by oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, including Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act funds and surplus dollars.
To date, $296 million has been allocated through the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will cover nearly the full cost of raising the 800 to 1,000 structures.
According to the Department of Administration, CPRA has an operating budget of just over $200 million for the current fiscal year.
A constitutional amendment on the November ballot will ask Louisianans to divert federal funds from offshore energy into the CPRA’s funding.
“It’s very important to get future funding for these projects, so that we can do these projects prior to a storm,” Laurie Cormier, the Calcasieu/Sabine Basin representative said. “I’m begging for resources to fully fund these projects.”
Every 100 minutes, an area the size of a football field vanishes into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes and other natural disasters may expedite the process, leaving homes in Louisiana’s coastal region particularly vulnerable.