Coulee Ile des Cannes project will remove hundreds of acres from flood zone in Scott

Posted: May 22, 2019 / 02:03 PM CDT

Updated: May 22, 2019 / 02:03 PM CDT

SCOTT, La. (KLFY) – Heavy equipment operators are digging out Coulee Iles des Cannes in the city of Scott and nearby unincorporated Lafayette Parish.

This is phase nine of the Coulee Iles des Cannes project… an effort to widen and deepen the coulee.
LCG project engineer Mark LaVergne said work on the one point-one mile long project began last July.

“It was just heavily wooded. It would actually be difficult to walk through,” LaVergne explained. “There were high spots in the bottom of the channel. I would say it wasn’t draining anywhere near capacity like it could have.”

The coulee runs alongside the Apollo Road extension. It goes from Fenetre Road to Old Spanish Trail.

“It’s going to help insurance rates. It’s going to help prevent flooding and it’s a major drainage facility for the western part of the parish,” said Scott City Planner Pat Logan.

Coulle Iles des Cannes is a natural coulee.

Work to deepen and widen the coulee began in the late 1980s starting at the Vermilion River.

“Every time money’s become available we will improve the channel as those monies will allow,” LaVergne said.

The coulee is between 14 and 17 feet high.

It’s 20 feet wide at the bottom and then at the top of the coulee it’s 90 feet across.

This project will remove 360 acres of land from the flood plain.

Rocks and drainage pipes have also been installed.

“These rocks that you see are about two feet thick, 40-50 pound stone to serve as erosion protection,” LaVergne said.

The work is being paid with a $3.8 million recovery grant from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.

LCG and the city of Scott are each putting in $750,000.

LCG said the project should be finished in about two months.

The project is currently $300,000 under budget and a year ahead of schedule.