Officials kicked off the first phase of the project Friday, breaking ground on an $8.5 million tidal levee that will protect much of the town from storm surge even as plans move forward for levees that would ring the rest of the community.
Jean Lafitte lies outside the boundaries of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-built levee system and traditionally has had little in the way of flood protection.
While the town did not flood in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, due to the path of the storm and its accompanying tidal surge, it has flooded during four storms since then. That included significant flooding in 2011 during Tropical Storm Lee, which had relatively minor effects on the rest of the south shore.
Officials kicked off the first phase of the project Friday, breaking ground on an $8.5 million tidal levee that will protect much of the town from storm surge even as plans move forward for levees that would ring the rest of the community.
Jean Lafitte lies outside the boundaries of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-built levee system and traditionally has had little in the way of flood protection.
While the town did not flood in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, due to the path of the storm and its accompanying tidal surge, it has flooded during four storms since then. That included significant flooding in 2011 during Tropical Storm Lee, which had relatively minor effects on the rest of the south shore.
In his state position, Graves had a hand in many of the discussions about funding for the project. “It’s not saving money not to build these projects,” he said.
The new levee will be less than half the height needed to block the surge of a so-called 100-year storm, one with a 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year. That’s the standard set for the Corps’ projects that surround the more populous areas of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes.
“We’re going to do everything we can” to make sure these areas have that same level of protection, Jefferson Parish President John Young said.
The levees are designed so that they can be built up to that 16-foot height if funding becomes available. Even at the planned height, they would have been large enough to prevent flooding from every storm that has hit Jean Lafitte since Hurricane Juan in 1985, levee district Director of Administration Nicole Cooper said.
Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle, whose community also falls outside the parish’s hurricane protection system, was on hand Friday to wish Kerner well.
Work is being planned for storm defenses on Grand Isle as well, with a groundbreaking on a shore protection project expected in the next few months, Camardelle said. That project, which involves putting rocks on the shoreline to prevent erosion, is necessary before the town can begin work on levees.