St. Charles Parish Receives Mitigation Funds
Release Date: June 8, 2007
Release Number: 1603-644
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NEW ORLEANS, La. -- St. Charles Parish residents will soon have two new safeguards in place to prevent future interruption of public services. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently approved funding for upgrades to the Paradis pump station and the St. Charles Parish Department of Public Works and Wastewater main office building.
FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) allocated $562,500 to install a bar screen cleaning system at the Paradis Pump Station. Bar screens are designed to collect debris to keep the pumps from becoming clogged. However, during peak rain events, the bar screens become blocked with the large amount of debris, preventing the pumps from operating at their designed capacity. This increases the risk of flooding and requires frequent manual cleaning of the bar screen. Once the new bar screen cleaning system is installed, manual cleaning will no longer be required. Installation of this system will allow the pump station to operate at optimal capacity.
Another FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant of $8,756 has been allocated to retrofit building shutters at the St. Charles Parish Department of Public Works and Wastewater main office building located in Luling. The shutters are designed to minimize any future damage from high winds of up to 145 miles per hour and allows for manual and automatic operation. The project will consist of an aluminum roll down shutter system covering the entire 449 square feet of exterior window area.
During storm events, the office functions as an operations center and living space for parish employees of the public works department. Currently, the building does not have covered windows and is therefore vulnerable to future damage from high wind events.
"I am happy to say that with FEMA's help, we have taken the first step in making sure the windows on our public works building can resist hurricane force winds," said St. Charles Parish President Albert D. Laque.
HMGP funds are used to make improvements to public or private property. To be eligible, a project must provide a long-term solution to a specific risk.
The HMGP provides grants to states and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration, to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Friday, 08-Jun-2007 11:29:31