NEW ORLEANS — Weather impact days like Wednesday are often reminders for some of the damage flood water can cause homeowners. It’s why several groups are teaming up to help families across the city use plants and greenery to protect their homes.
“I was having pooling of water that sits up over there,” said Trina Warren, a homeowner in New Orleans East. “I was getting water inside of my home.”
But that is a thing of the past she says now that she has installed what’s called green infrastructure around her home.
She’s using French drains, permeable pavers, and rainwater barrels to mitigate flooding on her property. Lessons she says she learned through a free workshop put on by Waterwise Gulf South.
“Green infrastructure is a way to manage stormwater where it falls,” said Waterwise Gulf South Executive Director Jeffery Supak.
“Instead of it all going into our drainage system, we can actually hold some of the water on our property through different types of projects like French drains and rain gardens," Supak said. "The water can infiltrate down instead of running off into the catch basins and storm drains, and lead to more flooding in our city," he said.
According to Supak, Hurricane Katrina devastated a lot of the natural green infrastructure in the east and across the city.
“We lost over 100,000 trees from Hurricane Katrina,” he said. “We really need that infrastructure back into our city.”
He and members of New Orleans East Green Infrastructure are hoping to do just that by educating homeowners and residents across the city through a series of free workshops.
“We have partnerships with six community organizations across the city,” said Supak. “If you live in those communities, coming to a workshop is the first step for potentially getting a project on your property that Water Wise and the community organizations will help fund.
The first free workshop is on Saturday Sept. 7 in Hollygrove at 10 a.m. On Oct. 10 a workshop will be held in the east. For locations and times, you can click this link.
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