Released: April 16, 2008

Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon hosted a meeting today of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities to update insurance company representatives on upgrades to the Hurricane Protection System in the Greater New Orleans area.

Karen Durham-Aguilera is the Director of the Corps’ Task Force Hope, the agency responsible for the restoration of the Hurricane Protection System in five parishes in the Greater New Orleans area. This system includes 350 miles of levees, floodwalls and floodgates. Durham-Aguilera says the Corps is on track to complete levee reconstruction and rebuilding to 100-year flood protection levels by 2011, intended to protect the area against a Category 5 hurricane.

The Corps presentation noted that $3 billion in federal funds has been spent since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina on system improvements. The overall program will cost an estimated $14.6 billion. All levee damage has been repaired, all deficiencies corrected, transitions strengthened and vulnerable floodwalls have been armored for a Hurricane Protection System that is much stronger and better than before Hurricane Katrina, according to Garrett Graves, Director of the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities.

Commissioner Donelon added that the Greater New Orleans area is better protected today for any type of flooding event. The Corps presentation indicated that new pumps are in place to route floodwaters out of the area and new pumping stations able to withstand winds of more than 230 miles per hour are under construction. These pumping stations will include a safe house platform to accommodate personnel during a storm to ensure that the pumps remain operational during hurricane events.

Today’s meeting for insurance company representatives is the second such meeting hosted by Commissioner Donelon. A similar Corps update was presented in December 2006.

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