Edwards: Bayou Chene project will be fully funded

Funding is in place to construct a permanent floodgate on Bayou Chene and prevent backwater riverine flooding in six parishes.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the commitment of $80 million in funds for the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project through the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Edwards officially made the announcement in January, but he visited Morgan City Wednesday to formally announce the commitment in person.

Those funds be will provided from federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act money the state is going to receive during the next three years.

Project construction includes installation of a permanent floodgate on Bayou Chene in Amelia to protect parts of St. Mary, Terrebonne, lower St. Martin, Assumption, Lafourche and Iberville parishes from backwater flooding along the Atchafalaya River and connected bodies of water. The gate would be closed when the river reaches 7 feet and is forecast to continue rising.

The governor commended St. Mary Levee District and state officials for their “tremendous efforts” to prevent flooding in 2011 and 2016 by installing a temporary barge on Bayou Chene and to push for a permanent floodgate.

Though the temporary flood protection structure was effective, “it was not the long-term solution,” Edwards said.

“The permanent structure that we’re announcing today is a long-term solution,” he said.

State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, and Bill Hidalgo, president of the St. Mary Levee District Commission and CPRA board member, have been especially strong advocates for the permanent Bayou Chene floodgate.

Riverine flooding, storm surge and heavy rainfall are serious threats to the region. Fortunately, despite high water this year, rivers in the region appeared to have crested, and officials don’t anticipate having to open to the Morganza Spillway, Edwards said. Opening Morganza would have brought more water to the Morgan City area.

However, the Bonnet Carre Spillway in the New Orleans area was opened last month, marking the first time ever that the Bonnet Carre has been opened in consecutive years. The Morganza Spillway hasn’t been opened since 2011. But with more consistently high water each year, “we can be pretty sure that, in the not too distant future, the Morganza Spillway will be opened as well,” the governor said.

“We can be better prepared to face it,” Edwards said. “We’re in a much better place today.”

Tim Matte, executive director of the St. Mary Levee District, said the permanent structure “will allow us to deal with these problems that are obviously going to be occurring more and more often.”

Since 2016, the region has seen higher than normal water levels each year. Had the permanent structure been in place during each of those years, officials would have closed the floodgate, Matte said.

The floodgate should protect the area at a river stage of up to 20 feet at Morgan City, he said.

Levee district officials plan to bid out the project’s first construction phase later this year. That phase entails dredging material that will later be used for construction of a levee.

“All efforts will be put forth to make sure that this (project) happens just as quickly as we possibly can (make it happen),” Matte said.

CPRA Chairman Chip Kline said securing funds for the Bayou Chene project shows what can be done when state leaders and local officials work toward “a common goal.”

The project first showed up on state coastal leaders’ radar when it was submitted and included in the state’s 2012 master plan of coastal projects, Kline said. Still, it’s been at the front of local officials’ minds since 1973, the first time a temporary barge was installed in Bayou Chene to prevent a flood.

Allain said he and state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, pushed to ensure the Bayou Chene project was put into the master plan and to get Hidalgo on the CPRA board.

During the 2011 flood, Allain remembers being approached at a public meeting by a Stephensville resident who feared she would lose everything she owned.

“The fear in the eyes of the people that were there was just tremendous,” Allain said. “I knew that this project had to be one of our top priorities into the future.”

Jones said the $80 million commitment to the Bayou Chene project is probably the largest ever single commitment of state funds to St. Mary Parish. Efforts to get the funding were bi-partisan and the result of many people from different places working together, Jones said.