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Flood protection prospects murky as ever in Baton Rouge area

Despite the massive flooding that struck south Louisiana in August, prospects for a decades-old project aimed at protecting homes in the future remain as murky as ever.

The State fair grounds in East Baton Rouge. (Photo: Bill Feig / The Advocate)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Despite the massive flooding that struck south Louisiana in August, prospects for a decades-old project aimed at protecting homes in the future remain as murky as ever.

According to our partners at The Advocate, the planned 12-mile structure, called the Comite River Diversion Canal, would siphon high water from the Comite River, sending it instead to the Mississippi River. The Comite is a tributary of the Amite River.

Had it been in place in August, officials said, the number of damaged and destroyed homes in the Baton Rouge area could have been trimmed by about 25 percent.

But the proposal, which was first authorized in the early 1990s, remains stuck on the launchpad, even as hundreds of millions of federal dollars pour into the state after tens of thousands of homes, businesses and other structures were inundated.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, and other top state officials say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the main stumbling block. Corps officials say lack of money is the chief impediment.

The bottom line is that the project shows little hope of moving forward, at least for now.

For the full story from reporter Will Sentell, visit The Advocate's website

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