Federal, state and local officials broke ground July 26 on a levee project along the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain. It's designed to provide hurricane and storm protection to a three-parish area where 60,000 people have little to no defenses in place.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers Galveston District and Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 have brought on a joint venture of Freese and Nichols, COWI and CDM Smith (FCC-JV) to part of an $863 million effort to improve hurricane flood protection—levees and floodwalls—for a 65-square-mile area that includes Port Arthur, Texas, and adjacent communities.
Hurricane Delta brought more flooding than wind, but teams surveying Louisiana and Texas so far are reporting less damage to infrastructure and facilities than what they saw after Hurricane Laura just a few weeks ago.
After fast growth from Category 2 to Category 4 in two days, storm made landfall near Cameron, La., early on Aug. 27, but earlier predicted "unsurvivable" storm surge was less than anticipated.
In a few weeks, workers will begin to dismantle the temporary pumps and floodgates that have been in place along the New Orleans lakefront since the year after Hurricane Katrina.
Keeping an eye on weather conditions around critical infrastructure is a persistent problem for public agencies and private owners, particularly in underserved communities far from government weather stations.
