BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – If you’ve lived in Louisiana, you’re no stranger to how quickly flooding can happen.
“We’re hurricane-prone and all it takes is a three-to-four-inch rain and you go areas that people get real concerned about flooding up into people’s homes,” said Fred Raiford.
Ever since the 2016 flood, Transportation and Drainage Director for East Baton Rouge Fred Raiford said they have been making new plans to make sure it does not happen again.
“It’s certainly something that we need to look at with all the flooding conditions that we deal with on some of our heavy rain events,” said Raiford.
Now, he’s one step closer after getting new funding from FEMA. Senator Bill Cassidy announced $206 million for projects across the state to elevate flood-prone homes, reduce flood damage, and minimize flood insurance claims.
“We’re trying to reform the program, we’re trying to do flood control structures, coastal restoration, and we’re also trying to mitigate the risk of flooding for the individual. You put them all together and you begin to pay a lower premium,” explained Cassidy.
Raiford said some of that money will go towards three projects throughout East Baton Rouge Parish. One will allow you to raise your home if you qualify and meet FEMA requirements. The other two will add retention ponds to strategic, flood-prone areas around the parish. One will be near Mickens Road and will drain to Hurricanes Creek. The other will be off Flannery Road near Choctaw Drive. Raiford said this would allow the water to have somewhere else to go.
“When you retain it in areas that you designed it for it’s a plus for our standpoint that it’s not sitting two or three inches in somebody’s house, it’s two or three inches in a big retention pond,” said Raiford.
It’s all part of the city-parish stormwater management master plan. This means that now that funding is secured, these projects can start right away.
East Baton Rouge is not the only area getting some of this money. The City of Central will get around $9.5 million. Livingston Parish will see over $11 million. Ascension Parish is getting over $2.7 million.
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