Katie Moore / Eyewitness News
HARAHAN, La. -- Jefferson Parish leaders and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on a first-of-its kind flood control project Monday afternoon.
Construction of the Harahan Rump to the River system will soon be underway to ultimately to more effectively remove rain water from parts of Jefferson Parish.
It's the first time water will be pumped to the river, not Lake Pontchartrain, for southshore drainage.
"It'll get to the point where it's 10, 20 inches [deep] depending on how bad it is. You can see the water flowing, but it's just so much of it and it doesn't drain,” said Sean Moy, a Harahan resident.
Parts of Harahan, River Ridge and Elmwood are known for street flooding during heavy rain events. The Pump to the River project in Harahan will ultimately cost more than $100 million, but officials hope it’ll make a significant impact on the amount of area street flooding.
The Army Corps of Engineers and Jefferson Parish leaders said Monday the Harahan project will provide long overdue flood relief. It was funded after the devastating flood of 1995.
But actual work on the project is just now getting underway.
“Even though Katrina was in '05, it took until '07 or '08 to get the money straightened out. So we're at a point right now where we're doing a lot of work on SELA projects,” said U.S. Army Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the New Orleans District of the Corps of Engineers.
It's a first-of-its-kind project for Jefferson Parish. The nearly $23 million pump station will take rainwater from Harahan and surrounding areas, and instead of draining it to be pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, pumps and a series of canals will take it to the Mississippi River.
“Every drop of rain that falls in Jefferson Parish, number one, has to be pumped out, and number two, we're on the river, so it takes two hours to get to the lake from here,” said Jefferson Parish President John Young.
Traditionally the corps and Congress have opposed Pump to the River projects because they have to pump the water against gravity, and it’s more expensive.
But Young is hoping the success of the Harahan pump to the river project will convince the Corps to push for two others.
However, Fleming wouldn't comment on the other potential projects.
“The Harahan Pump to the River project is the one that we're focusing on today,” he said.
Young is still pushing for the larger, Hoyes Basin pump to the river project.
He argues it would more rapidly drain parts of Jefferson Parish, including Old Metairie, pumping 25 percent less water into the 17th Street Canal.
The Harahan Pump to the River project should be completed in 2016.
