Officials from multiple parish levee districts briefed the CPRA board on recent levee-lift projects, interim protection work and major pump-station construction.

Terrebonne Parish officials described multiple levee lifts completed since 2008, and credited a mix of local tax measures and state funding for steady construction of interim hurricane-protection lifts. Angela Hidalgo, representing the Terrebonne levee district, said interim lifts and water-control structures have demonstrably reduced houses flooded during recent events. Work in reach segments and rock-barm placement and marsh creation were showcased as examples of local-state partnership delivery.

Lafourche and St. Mary levee-district representatives described completed and planned lifts, including a recent project that used locally dredged material to raise a roadway/levee ramp to approximately 18.5 feet elevation and other planned lifts to 14–19 feet in targeted reaches. Presenters emphasized staged, compacted fills rather than loose, temporary berms to increase durability.

A separate presentation described a major river-intake pump-station construction contract and associated discharge works. Presenters said the existing pump station had operated in various configurations since 1955 and that the new station will increase capacity from about 400 CFS up to 1,000 CFS in its initial configuration and will be expandable to 1,500 CFS with additional pumps. The construction contract value presented in the meeting was $97,800,000 and staff reported the contract was approximately 55% complete; they estimated a contract completion date in December 2026. Presenters described the temporary drainage structures and discharge-pipe work necessary to build the intake and the discharge headworks in a tidal environment.

Why it matters: Interim levee lifts and new pumping capacity are short-term resilience measures that reduce household flood risk while larger, federal-scale projects remain in planning or authorization stages. The pump-station upgrade also increases freshwater supply capacity that many parishes and industries rely on.

Details and next steps: Levee districts said they will continue phased lift work and pursue available state and federal funding; the pump-station team said major components have been delivered to the site and that construction progress should accelerate in the months ahead.