[StBernard] 23-Mile-Long Floodwall Under Construction

[Westley Annis]

23-Mile-Long Floodwall Under Construction
Army Corps Project To Protect St. Bernard Parish

POSTED: 12:53 pm CDT July 14, 2010
UPDATED: 8:28 pm CDT July 14, 2010

ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. -- A 23-mile-long floodwall is under construction in
St. Bernard Parish in an effort to reduce the risk of storm surge there.

The new floodwall is designed to protect the parish and its surrounding
wetlands from the surge from a 100 year storm out of the Gulf of Mexico. The
wall runs from Bayou Bienvenue to Caernarvon Canal, which is where St.
Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish meet.

Construction of the floodwall started in February, and when completed, it
will be 32 feet high.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the wall will be able to stop some
storm surge even this hurricane season. Folks involved with the project are
calling it the "Great Wall Of St. Bernard."

"In this particular case, we're driving piles 120-feet H-piles in both sides
of the levee to add additional stability to the wall," said Corps Col.
Robert Sinkler. "And it goes down 120 feet, which is significant depth and
will help protect this area well into the future."

The Corps said it has 10 months left in its timeline to complete this
project, and to do that, workers will have to complete 2 miles of wall a
month.

Also included in this new loop will be a new control structure at Bayou
Dupre and a new sector gate at Caernarvon.

The project costs roughly $1.5 billion in federal money.

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