St. Mary Levee District leaders hope a proposal to combine the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project with another coastal project may solve Bayou Chene’s funding shortfall. The levee district commission met Thursday at the parish courthouse in Franklin. Officials discussed a proposal to coordinate the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion with a project to increase the Atchafalaya River’s flow east into Terrebonne Parish to bring freshwater and sediment, in an effort to restore Terrebonne’s coast. The Bayou Chene structure would entail installing a permanent 400-foot floodgate on the bayou that can be closed to protect up to six parishes from ...