More than 40 of the 120 recommended projects in the 2017 Coastal Master Plan are located in the Southwest area of the state, including Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes.
The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority released the plan today, which lists the recommended coastal restoration and improvement projects over a 50-year period. It calls for the Southwest coastline to have 26 restoration projects; 12 non-structural risk reduction measures, like elevating homes, flood-proofing businesses and voluntary acquisitions; and five structural risk reductions, including levees and floodgates.
The master plan, first released in 2007, has to be updated every five years and requires legislative approval. Bren Haase, chief of the CPRA’s planning and research division, said the 2017 plan is an improvement from the last update in 2012 because of better science and technology analysis, along with new ideas, a focus on flood risk and resilience and expanded public outreach.
Haase said more than 200 projects were considered. The list was narrowed down to the projects that could be funded with $50 billion. That amount would be split equally between restoration efforts — like marsh creation and shoreline protection — along with measures like building levees and elevating property.
According to the report, the 120 recommended projects would “build or maintain more than 800 square miles of land and reduce expected damage by $8.3 billion annually” after 50 years.
“This is the prioritized list in a system-wide approach across the state ... of the kind of things we identified that need to be done and we can do,” said Chuck Perrodin, the authority’s public information director.
Projects
One project includes an estimated $262.3 million to prevent saltwater from moving into the Calcasieu Ship Channel.
Roughly $120 million would be spent in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes to flood-proof, elevate or acquire properties that reach certain flood depths in an 100-year event.
The plan also calls for creating thousands of marsh near Grand Chenier, Calcasieu Lake and the Calcasieu Ship Channel.
Haase said the report shows images of the potential coastal land loss over 10-50 years. The scenarios range in severity from low to high. Other images show the predicted flood depths after a 100-year flood event.
The report states the Lake Charles area, which includes the Calcasieu and Cameron regions, “could be exposed to $293 million in expected annual damage” after 25 years, and “$460 million in annual damage” after 50 years, if no preventative measures are taken.
The report states that hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike washed away 300 square miles of marshland.
Since 2007, 135 coastal projects were either completed or received funding for construction, according to the report. Two included the Cameron Parish shoreline restoration, finished in 2014, along with salinity control measures at Calcasieu Ship Channel.
Public outreach
The CPRA will host a series of meetings this month to educate the public on the master plan and get feedback. The first meeting is 5:30 p.m., Jan. 17 at the Lake Charles Civic Center, with an open house starting at 3:30 p.m.
Other meetings are scheduled in New Orleans, Houma and Mandeville. The authority will accept public comments through March 26.
Comments for the master plan can be emailed to masterplan@la.gov.
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