Louisiana Will Chip in on Bayou Pointe-aux-Chenes Floodgate Cost

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State officials in Louisiana have approved a grant that will pay for 50 percent of the cost of a new floodgate to be built on Bayou Pointe-aux-Chenes.

The Courier reports the barge floodgate will be 56 feet wide and 18 feet above sea level. It’s expected to offer protection for residents of Pointe-aux-Chenes, Bourg, Montegut and Grand Bois by preventing flooding during heavy storms.

In a collaboration of the Terrebonne Levee District and the Louisiana Flood Control Program, the $7.6 million grant is expected to cover half of the floodgate’s roughly $15 million cost.

Terrebonne Parish, through its half-cent sales tax and bond sales will match the state funding.

The floodgate will connect the Lafourche and Terrebonne drainage levees.

Terrebonne Parish Councilman Pete Lambert said Bayou Point-aux-Chenes is the parish’s last remaining bayou without a floodgate.

“By placing that floodgate there, it’s a real critical piece of the puzzle,” he said, referring to the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system.

The floodgate won’t be ready until the 2015 hurricane season, said Reggie Dupre, executive director of the Terrebonne Levee District.

During Hurricane Isaac, Point-aux-Chenes and Isle de Jean Charles were the only areas in Terrebonne that were flooded, he said.