NEW ORLEANS — Many people are home these days and taking advantage of the nice weather to exercise.
But that's causing a problem for the Flood Protection Authority East as hurricane season quickly approaches.
At some parts on the top of the levee, grass is wearing away as more people walk, run and ride their bikes.
The grass covers up the protective coating that protects from storm surge.
And that’s led Derek Boese, the Flood Protection Authority East’s chief administrative officer to issue a plea to stay off the tops of the levees — especially as hurricane season is set to begin on June 1.
“The levee's primary purpose is flood protection for the Greater New Orleans area,” Boese said. “We're seeing a lot more foot traffic. And … it almost looks like tire tracks on the crown of the levee.”
And when the grass goes away, it exposes the fabric that was put there after Hurricane Katrina.
“What that does during a storm event is it protects from erosion,” Boese said.
Boese said you can still get out and enjoy the lakefront — he just doesn’t want that happening from the tops of the levees along the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
In Jefferson Parish, he said the roadways along the lake side of the levee are technically for Flood Protection Authority vehicles, but that the public is more than free to use them.
“We would encourage people to use those paths or use other parts of the levee — the flat areas adjacent — but try to stay off of the crown for sure as much as they can."
Boese said it’s not an uncommon problem to have to repair parts of the levee that wear away at the top.
“But now we’re seeing it much more — in many more areas and much, I’d say, deeper — and I don’t mean that in an extreme way -- but more wear than we normally do.”
He said crews will work as fast as possible to make any repairs, but that staffing has dropped a bit as some of his employees deal with their own cases of COVID-19.
“We have our own staffing challenges right now, just like every other agency and business, and so the less work that we have to do to repair things like this, the easier it makes it on us to keep everything up for storm season,” he said.
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