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Can Master Plan projects help to reduce coastal flooding in my community?

Map

Did you know that in the future many of our major urban centers such as New Orleans, the North Shore, and Lake Charles are projected to see significant increases in storm surge based flooding? And many towns and communities along the low-lying areas of the coast could see the most significant changes.

The above map shows estimated flood depths if we take no additional restoration or risk reduction actions and a 100-year storm were to impact coastal Louisiana 50 years from now (under the Medium environmental scenario).  For instance, in 50 years, Houma could see over 15 feet of flooding from a 100-year storm event.

Louisiana Has a Plan 

However, much can be done to reduce flooding risk for many of these coastal communities through a combination of restoration projects, structural protection, and nonstructural risk reduction projects. If we fully fund and implement Louisiana’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan to restore and protect our coast, we could reduce economic damages by $3 billion to individuals, communities, and industries at year 25 and $8.3 billion at year 50. This means that the benefits of risk reduction projects will pay for themselves three times over, resulting in $150 billion in reduced damages over the next 50 years.

We estimate that we can reduce the damage the following communities would face from storm surge by more than 75%:

  • Houma; Slidell; Franklin and Charenton; Edgard; Kenner and Metarie; Garyville

We estimate that we can reduce the damage the following communities would face from storm surge by more than 90%:

  • Ama; Laplace and Reserve; Hahnville and Luling; Montz; Donaldsonville; Convent; Vacherie; Larose and Golden Meadow; Morgan City; Abbeville and Delcambre; Iberia Region

The 2017 Coastal Master Plan includes a range of projects that will effectively reduce flood damage coast wide by varying levels. Communities along the rim of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne, especially Slidell, Lacombe, Mandeville, Madisonville, and Ruddock, and communities associated with the Upper Barataria Basin, especially Des Allemands, Kraemer, and Chackbay, will benefit from implementation of structural protection projects.

Coastal communities and areas outside of the major levee systems, such as Lafitte, Lower Terrebonne, the west bank of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, the Chenier Plain, Cameron, Pecan Island, Hackberry, Sulphur, and Lake Charles, will benefit from implementation of nonstructural risk reduction measures.

Additionally, the 2017 Coastal Master Plan identifies many locations where structural and nonstructural projects will be implemented in concert to provide risk reduction.

To learn more about coastal flood risk or master plan projects in your community, visit the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s (CPRA) Master Plan Data Viewer to view your current and future storm surge based flood risk.

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For more information about the 2017 Coastal Master Plan, please visit:

http://coastal.la.gov/our-plan/2017-coastal-master-plan/overview/

For more information about CPRA’s Flood Risk and Resilience Program, please visit:

http://coastal.la.gov/our-plan/2017-coastal-master-plan/flood-risk-and-resilience-program/