[StBernard] St. Bernard and levee district to hold open houses on flood work, beginning Tuesday

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard and levee district to hold open houses on flood work, beginning
Tuesday
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on June 09, 2014 at 4:57 PM, updated June 09, 2014 at 6:21 PM

St. Bernard Parish and the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District are scheduled to
hold three open houses beginning Tuesday in Chalmette to discuss about $52
million in flood control projects and to raise awareness and understanding
of flood risks, the entities announced.

In April, the parish and levee district launched a community outreach
initiative entitled "Flood Risk: Safety, Control, and Responsibility." At
the open houses, floodplain managers are expected to provide detailed
mapping of flood risks associated with living within and outside the levee
system.

Here's the schedule and location of the meetings: 

Tuesday, June 10, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Val Reiss Multi-Purpose
Center, 899 E. Magistrate St., Chalmette.
Wednesday, June 11, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Docville Farm, 5124 E. St.
Bernard Hwy., Violet.
June 18, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural
Society Museum Complex, 1357 Bayou Rd., Eastern St. Bernard. 
Representatives from FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the Southeast Louisiana Flood
Protection Agency – East, the Lake Borgne Basin Levee District and parish
emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation officials also are expected to
offer advice at the open houses on flood preparation, along with building
practices to mitigate flood risk and tips on purchasing flood insurance to
protect families.

Information also will be available on construction projects and and upgrades
to reduce flood risks.

Those projects include new pump stations, pipes, engines, safe rooms to
protect the personnel operating the pumps, new generators for the parish
Sheriff's Office and public works, and structure elevations and street
drainage improvements. They also include a remote computer monitoring system
to monitor lift stations, water towers, monitoring locations and pump
stations, so that in the event of a problem, emergency personnel would no
longer have to visit all 104 parish lift stations individually, increasing
efficiency and reducing risk.