LOCAL

Gov. Edwards to discuss River Styx, FEMA in WM today

Bonnie Bolden
The News Star

River Styx pump station is among parishwide projects still awaiting approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Portions of underground pipes at River Styx pump station were repaired in 2016 after an emergency order from the Ouachita Parish Police Jury. The pipes are in need of replacement, and the project was vetoed as part of the state's 2017 capital outlay bill.

Gov. John Bel Edwards is slated to speak in West Monroe on Tuesday and announce additional hazard mitigation being allotted to aid the region.

Richard Carbo, deputy chief of staff for Edwards, said Monday that part of the additional allocation will come from unspent dollars set aside after hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Ouachita Parish engineer Kevin Crosby said some parishes have not used all the money from the 2008 storms, so that will be redivided for other work around the state.

The previous $5.9 million provided for the parish and the additional allocation that will be announced Tuesday are "real dollars that are already in the bank that can be spent," Carbo said.

Carbo said the parish works with Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to prioritize projects. River Styx is on the list of projects that the governor and the parish submitted to FEMA for approval because these are mostly federal dollars. That list has not yet received FEMA approval.

"The state is working with FEMA very diligently to get that approval as quickly as possible," Carbo said.

The request for project funding that the governor vetoed as part of the capital outlay budget, Carbo said, was classified as Priority 5 and would not have come to fruition.

Ouachita Parish was awarded $5.9 million from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in December. At a Ouachita Parish Police Jury meeting in January, Crosby presented a list of projects that had been agreed on by the police jury and the cities of Monroe and West Monroe.

Those projects were:

  • River Styx Pump Station restoration — FEMA funds will cover $1.9 million with a local match of $646,205 with a total cost of about $2.5 million.
  • Oregon Trail protection levee (Monroe) — FEMA funds will cover $1.1 million with a local match of $375,000 with a total cost of about $1.5 million.
  • Georgia Street pump station (Monroe) — FEMA funds will cover $875,000 with a local match of $291,667. This project also is receiving funding from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Stateside Flood Control. The total project cost is about $5.4 million.
  • Channel improvements to Black Bayou Canal (West Monroe) — FEMA funds will cover $2 million with a local match of $666,667 with a total cost of about $2.6 million.

The total cost for all projects, including federal and state dollars was $12.7 million.

Crosby cautioned Monday that the only way the parish will be able to fund a local match for some of the projects is if a drainage tax passes. 

Alternate projects include work to Black Bayou in Monroe and syncing the gauges at all of the flood control structures. Sycamore Point neighborhood drainage was tied to a previous Gustav-Ike project.

Carbo estimated that another three to four projects will be part of the new allocation. River Styx is at the top of the priority list for Ouachita Parish. The project was a priority of the governor's, which is why he decided to allocate the funds for it.

The pump station protects 23,600 acres, including CenturyLink's headquarters and numerous other homes and businesses. A project to replace rusting pipes is estimated to cost $1.485 million.

Kevin Crosby, engineer for the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, said rusting pipes in the flood control structure could rupture the next time there's major flooding in northeastern Louisiana.

In 1991, Monroe and the parish only had the Chauvin pump station to combat heavy flooding. It wasn't enough, Crosby said. It's why River Styx was built with twice the flood capacity of Chauvin.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers designed and built River Styx before he or any of the current police jury members were involved in the process. The pipes didn't have rust protection and are corroded from the outside in. Checking the underground pipes from the inside doesn't show the level of external damage.

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