Corps to discuss hurricane protection plans for New Orleans Lower 9th Ward

The Army Corps of Engineers will discuss plans to improve hurricane protection in the Lower 9th Ward during a public meeting tonight at Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School, 1617 Caffin Ave.

The event starts with an open house at 6 p.m. followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.

The Corps

will discuss the preferred alignment of the structure that will reduce the risk of storm surge from entering communities near the Industrial Canal as discussed in Individual Environmental Report 11 Tier 2 Borgne. The Corps will also provide an overview of potential areas from which borrow material - clay - may be obtained to upgrade the levee system.

A discussion will follow the presentation.

Another purpose of the meeting is to gather public input on the development of the hurricane-protection system.

"Improving the protection on the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal to provide a surge protection barrier is the key element to reducing risk to communities in New Orleans East, the 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish," said Laura Lee Wilkinson, environmental manager of the Corps' Hurricane Protection Office. "We will be discussing the impacts the preferred alignment will have on the human and natural environments."

Credit: CityBusiness Staff Report