But other damage was far less than anticipated — largely because of flood-protection projects.
Francine struck with 100-mile-per-hour winds and an 11-foot storm surge. Some roads flooded but few houses did, according to officials. The only overtopped levee in Terrebonne was near Montegut, a town on a narrow road that strings into the coastal marshes, separating land from the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's better than we expected," Parish President Jason Bergeron said at a news conference.
There was damage, make no mistake, said U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, a Baton Rouge Republican.
But it wasn't nearly as extensive as in past storms. He points to the levees, dams, pump stations and other expensive projects aimed at limiting damage from disasters.
"Hurricane Francine would have caused massive flooding in Terrebonne had we not stepped out in front and made all those investments," Graves said. "I think that a rough estimate is that we probably saved $1 billion in damage in Terrebonne Parish just from Hurricane Francine."
A Congressional Budget Office analysis released last week supports that view.
Billions spent nationwide on levees, raising buildings, dredging waterways and other measures have largely worked, the CBO reported. Every dollar spent by federal agencies translates into $2 to $3 to $6, depending on the project, in disaster recovery money that taxpayers won't have to pay.
Graves said the cost-benefit ratio is actually much higher, noting that the CBO analysis focused on a handful of federal agencies out of the half-dozen or so that contribute toward such projects.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, also a Republican from Baton Rouge, agrees with Graves and the CBO.
"This report confirms what Louisiana has proved for years — investing in resiliency pays off," he said.
Cassidy said such projects will "ultimately reduce the burden" on the National Flood Insurance Program, which covers nearly a half million Louisiana home and business owners.
Congress is currently debating how best to revamp the flood insurance program to lessen its drain on the federal budget. Changes, so far, have led to dramatically higher costs for many in Louisiana who must buy flood insurance policies as a condition of taking out mortgages to pay for their property.
Louisiana's congressional delegation wants the price of the insurance policies to factor in how the infrastructure improvements lowered the risk of flooding.
The CBO is a bipartisan research agency that provides information to Congress when it debates whether to fund programs. The office was asked to analyze the cost-effectiveness of what federal authorities call flood "adaptions," projects designed to prevent or to lessen flood damage.
Some flood prevention projects don't carry the same panache as new bridges or renovated airports, and support for them becomes iffy when Congress looks for ways to trim spending.
From 2014 through 2023, flooding from rising sea levels, storm surges, heavy rains and overflowing waterways annually caused an average of $46 billion in damage nationwide, the CBO found. Wind damage, including from tornadoes and hurricanes, accounted for about $52 billion. Wildfires, droughts and freezes together inflicted an average of $23 billion in damage annually, according to the CBO analysis.
Most of the homeowners impacted by flooding are low income or elderly, according to CBO.
Flooding is not just a coastal phenomenon, as the devastation wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Helene over the past two weeks have shown in the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
By 2050, flood damage is projected to increase by a third because climate change is creating more intense storms and continued development is attracting more people to the coasts, the CBO reports. Louisiana, Texas and Florida — which already account for about 75 percent of hurricane damage — will likely see much higher costs from storms, it says.
Federal spending for flood protection has increased from about $5 billion in 2019 to $15 billion in 2022. Another $7 billion in additional funding was provided through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the CBO.
"We know that natural disasters are more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis and that we must invest in robust climate resilience infrastructure," said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a New Orleans Democrat, adding that the Infrastructure Act recently provided funding for 13 projects in his congressional district.
"These projects include building green infrastructure and elevating hundreds of flood-prone homes," he said.
The Infrastructure Act, which Cassidy and Carter helped get passed but no other Louisiana Republican supported, is just one of the funding streams for flood-protection projects.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping pay for the Comite Diversion canal, which when complete will divert flood water from the confluence of the Amite and Comite rivers near Denham Springs into the Mississippi River, steering it away from neighborhoods.
In August 2016, heavy rain caused the Amite and Comite rivers to overtop their banks and flood 79,000 homes in East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes. The result was an estimated $3.8 billion in residential property damage alone.
Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pumping dollars into programs that help pay to elevate homes and buy out flood-prone properties.
The CBO report stated that reducing the risk of flooding benefits the national budget in many ways.
Protection projects reduce damage to federally supported infrastructure such as roads, lessens the demand for relief spending and cuts the numbers of claims by people with federal flood insurance, the report stated.
Another effect, according to the CBO, is that fewer property owners default on federally backed mortgages.
"When homes are damaged by flooding, homeowners with mortgages may change their repayment behavior, resulting in defaults, loan modifications, or early repayment," the CBO said.
(c)2024 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
