NEW ORLEANS — Governor John Bel Edwards submitted a request to President Joseph Biden for a Federal Emergency Declaration for the saltwater intrusion in the Mississippi River on Monday.
"I want to thank everyone at the state and local level who have been leading this fight, along with our partners at the Army Corps of Engineers," said Governor Edwards. "We have had discussions with FEMA about the unique challenges we face with this event. We are optimistic the President will approve our Federal Emergency Declaration, which will be crucial to help our communities along the lower Mississippi River."
The governor's office says that once approved, the Federal Emergency Declaration will provide federal assistance to reimburse ongoing response and temporary mitigation efforts as well as authorize assistance from other federal partners.
Read Governor Edwards’ letter to President Biden HERE.
Also, on Monday, the Army Corps of Engineers started raising the elevation of the sill from 55 feet to a depth of 30 feet. The toe of the saltwater wedge overtopped the sill last week.
The work is now expected to take 24 days to complete. The Army Corps is also trying to cobble together a fleet of barges that would gather water upriver and deliver it to downriver treatment plants inundated by saltwater.
Currently, only people in the southern half of Plaquemines Parish are affected and the wedge is slow moving, but it should reach the more populated areas like Belle Chasse, St. Bernard Parish, Algiers and then the city of New Orleans over the next month and a half or so.
Text WATER to 504-529-4444 for the latest updates on the saltwater intrusion emergency.
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