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ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — School officials in Vermilion Parish are moving ahead with plans for a concrete wall and pump system to protect more of the parish's schools from floodwaters.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1wQFlxD ) the latest project calls for spending $2.8 million to erect a concrete wall more than five feet high and install a pump system to protect Erath High and the adjacent Erath Middle School. The project is the fourth FEMA-funded flood wall project designed to protect schools in the coastal parish from flooding.
Vermilion Parish school leaders know firsthand the perils of coastal flooding and the impact on the school buildings and the lives sheltered inside. Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008 pushed water in some schools across the coastal parish.
Schools in Erath were closed and a campus-sharing system began for about six months with students at closed schools attending classes on campuses that didn't flood on an alternating, three-day-week schedule.
Following Ike, construction began on a flood protection wall for Dozier Elementary in Erath. Following Rita, the school was closed, and eventually classes were held in FEMA buildings while Dozier was remodeled and renovated.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
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