On Friday Gov. John Bel Edwards joined the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other state, local, and federal officials to celebrate the completion of the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) that will defend the Greater New Orleans area against severe storms.
Edwards said the HSDRRS was the largest civil works project in the Corps’ history and the result of nearly two decades of hard work and collaboration at the local, state, and federal level.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Congress provided $14.5 billion which included construction of a system that will defend the Greater New Orleans area against a storm surge that had a 1-percent chance of occurring in any given year as well as be resilient to larger storms.
The full up-front funding allowed USACE to apply the most current and up-to-date science and engineering during design and construction.
Upon completion of construction, the federal government has fully turned the completed system over to Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority for operation and maintenance.
