EUNICE, LA — Parts of Eunice, Louisiana, have long been situated in a 100-year flood zone, leaving the area highly susceptible to devastating floods. Following the catastrophic flooding of 2016, a federally funded flood wall project is now underway to protect the community from future damage and safeguard its residents.
The 2016 floods, one of the most destructive natural disasters in recent memory, caused widespread devastation throughout St. Landry Parish. Many residents were displaced, and countless homes were destroyed. For those who lived through it, the memory of the flood is still fresh. Dina Sias, a resident who lost everything in the 2016 flood, recalled the shocking experience.
“I was horrified because you always see stuff like that on TV, but you never think it can happen to you,” Sias said. The floodwaters damaged her car beyond repair and inundated her Lafayette apartment with nearly nine inches of water. “We had to call the fire department, and when they walked inside, they were like, ‘Oh my God, look at all this water. Yeah, you guys, come on, we got to go.’”
The flood also took a heavy toll on the Eunice Housing Authority, which sits along a canal in the area. Thirty housing units were severely damaged, taking on anywhere from eight inches to two feet of water. According to Angelia Guillory, the director of the Eunice Housing Authority, the aftermath of the storm was long-lasting.
“From the historic flood, 30 units had to be gutted down to the studs and completely rebuilt,” Guillory explained. After taking over as director in 2021, she found that many of the damaged units had remained vacant for nearly seven years due to the severity of the destruction.
In response, a two-phase project has been launched to both restore and protect the housing complex. The first phase has focused on renovating the damaged units, while the second phase involves constructing a flood wall designed to protect the entire complex from future flooding.
The $1.6 million project is funded by the federal government and is currently in the design and surveying phase. Ron Lee, the project’s architect, explained the significance of this phase.
“Part of this process is getting input from the city and local entities, along with an environmental analysis to show what we are doing, and to show how it impacts or, in our case, how it doesn’t impact the nearby properties in any appreciable way,” Lee said.
Once complete, the flood wall will stand at least four feet high and will be manually operated when needed. According to Lance Robichaux, the leading civil engineer on the project, the wall will function similarly to the levee system in New Orleans but on a smaller scale.
“Essentially, we’re building a levee system around the area, similar to what you see in New Orleans, just on a smaller scale,” Robichaux explained.
For residents like Sias, who now lives in the restored housing complex, the flood wall represents hope for a safer, more secure future. “Having a flood wall will keep you from having to start all over again because most of us live on a fixed income anyway,” Sias said.
The project is expected to begin its bidding process this summer, with construction slated to start in the fall of 2025. Once completed, the flood wall will provide critical protection for the low-income residents of the Eunice Housing Authority, ensuring that they are better equipped to withstand future floods.