Over the past 15 years improvements to the flood protection system in Terrebonne Parish has emergency officials in the parish confident they can handle a 7 to 9 foot storm surge.
Executive Director of the Terrebonne Levee & Conservation District, Reggie Dupre says he is confident they can handle what Laura could bring.
“Right now, for this type of hurricane that comes around us and puts a 7 to 9 food surge on us, we can handle it. I think we are in excellent shape and a thousand percent better than we were 15 years ago,” Dupre told WWL First News.
However, if Hurricane Laura shifts more towards Morgan City, the threat of a devastating storm surge increases.
“All bets are off, because that is a really to close for comfort,” he said. “A 13 or 14 foot tidal surge, then we will have severe over-topping on our levee system we built. We are not ready for that event but we are so much better than we were.”
Drupre says 11,000 homes were destroyed or damaged from Hurricane Rita’s 9-foot storm surge in 2005, since the flood protection improvements only 11 homes were damaged from storm surge last year.
