Instead of a $1 billion Reservoir; the Corps decides on $2 billion to raise homes in La

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates a proposed plan to elevate or floodproof nearly 3,300 homes, businesses and other buildings in the Amite River Basin would take 10 years to complete and could end up costing $2 billion.

Designed to reduce water damage in the populous Baton Rouge-area river basin after the devastating 2016 floods, the plan would replace the $1.3 billion Darlington Dam and smaller $1 billion home elevation program.

A long-discussed idea proposed anew in 2019, the 3.6-mile-long dam garnered opposition in East Feliciana and St. Helena parishes where it would be built and periodically inundate thousands of acres. The safety of the dam as well as the disproportionate impact on poor and minority residents were major reasons the Corps decided to shift gears.

Under the larger voluntary elevation program now proposed, homes in high-risk areas would be raised above the benchmark 100-year flood level while businesses, a few churches and public community centers, two fire stations and several grocery stores would be floodproofed to better withstand high water.

After a year-and-a-half startup phase, the agency estimates about 500 homes and businesses a year would be elevated or floodproofed once the still-unfunded plan got rolling, according to the Corps' draft report.

The Amite River Basin elevation program is one of a handful the Corps is proposing in south Louisiana to manage flood risk that would affect thousands of structures combined.

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Kaitlyn Richard, a Corps senior project manager, said the draft feasibility report didn't directly consider the ability of the marketplace to handle the elevation program under the plan's 10-year timeline along with Corps and other government elevation programs.

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The Amite River elevation proposal has already garnered concerns from some local officials who don't like the fact the plan would not stop floodwater from rising but only raise or beef-up structures to better handle the high water.

They point out the high water could still strand residents and flood roads and other infrastructure. Floodproofed businesses would generally only get that protection for up to 3 feet, after which it isn't deemed effective.

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Among the reasons for the Darlington Dam's rejection was that it would displace so many poor and minority residents.

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