Louisiana Floodwall Project to Begin Next Year

A project to protect 375 homes and 15 businesses in Larose, La., including North American Shipyard, from flooding and storm surge will begin in January.

The Daily Comet reports Lafourche Parish government inked an agreement following its Oct. 28 council meeting to begin work on the $5 million Industrial Floodwall and Drainage Project.

In January, crews will begin construction on 2,648 feet of an 8-foot floodwall along Industrial Park Road near North American Shipyard. The project will also elevate a section of Industrial Park Road to 7 feet to improve drainage.

South Lafourche Levee District Manager Windell Curole said last summer the area where the floodwall will be built is the district’s “biggest weak point.”

“If 10 feet of water is pushed all the way up around the system up to Larose, we would have some tremendous flooding,” Curole said.

The project is being paid for through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Project engineer Larry Picciola, of Larose-based Angelette-Picciola, LLC, said the floodwall should be completed by next summer.

Lafourche Parish officials said the project has been a long time coming.

“I am thrilled,” Lafourche Councilman Phillip Gouaux said in a news release Monday. “I have people who ask me about the project all the time and to know this is finally going to happen is great news for everyone,” he said.