A first-of-its-kind federal project to raise the foundation of flood-prone Louisiana homes is off to a slow start, with just one residence having been elevated thus far, according to a new analysis.
The findings highlight challenges facing the Army Corps of Engineers as it implements the $455 million project to protect people in southwest Louisiana from increasingly frequent hurricanes and rapid sea-level rise.
It comes as the Army Corps is evaluating whether to continue pursuing similar home elevation projects nationwide, suggesting that more could be done to ensure the agency historically focused on large-scale engineering projects can also pull off home-by-home floodproofing.
“They are still learning how to make this successful and how to create more buy-in for these projects moving forward,” said Rachel Rhode, manager of climate resilient coasts and watersheds at the Environmental Defense Fund.
