LOUISIANA FLOOD CONTROL LEGISLATION: MODERN DAY NOAH'S ARK

The story of Noah’s Ark is my all-time favorite Bible story. Noah was given specific instructions on how to build the ark. Built from cypress and coated with pitch inside and out, the ark’s profile would have looked enormous against the horizon. Noah and his family filled the ark with two of each living creature, male and female. The rain came for forty days and forty nights. The earth was flooded, and all was lost. The ark came to rest safely upon the mountains of Ararat. The earth would now have a second chance.

I have always said, "Noah’s Ark was the world’s most successful flood mitigation project." Noah knew a flood was coming. He listened to the warnings of what was ahead, he was provided construction plans and took action to mitigate the flood. 

While Louisiana has plenty of cypress, the ark we need in 2022 is legislation. In 2011, Northeast Louisiana was protected from the Mississippi River by levee’s that were legislated to be built following the 1927 flood. The State has grown since the early 20^th Century. Our hazards and risks have changed. We need new comprehensive legislation that establishes a risk reduction strategy and guides investments to reduce inland and coastal flooding. 

I encourage our best and brightest to inform our lawmakers on the need for risk reduction across the State of Louisiana.

We know a flood is coming. We need to take action.

Photograph from the National Weather Service - The great Mississippi River flood of 1927. Refugees in camp near the Louisiana Monument during the Great Flood of 1927 at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Source: The Bible, Local knowledge

                                                                                                               ©2022 Tom Malmay

Tom M.