Orange has prepared projects eligible for federal grants to help in preventing future flooding. The plans include a $10 million “Hurricane Protection System” along the west bank of the Sabine River from Interstate 10 to Front Street.
The Orange City Council will vote Tuesday to add the projects to its Hazard Mitigation Action Plan. Emergency Management Coordinator Lee Anne Brown said in a memo projects must be in the city’s action plan before submission for grants.
Even if FEMA or other agencies award grants, the projects can take years. The city received a grant after Hurricane Ike 10 years ago to line Cooper’s Gully with concrete. Work on the lining recently began.
Mitigation grants are given to help prevent future flooding.
Other projects the city has designated include hydrologic, or water flow, studies of the Chasse Ridge North Drainage Ditch and the Sabine River Authority East Canal at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
After the hydrologic studies, Phase II for the two will include tearing up about 70 feet of FM 1130 for the Chasse Ridge ditch and about 70 feet of MLK Drive. Then larger concrete box culverts will be installed under the roadways. The plan will need approval from the Texas Department of Transportation. The Chasse Ridge ditch project is estimated at $400,000, and the SRA canal project is estimated at $500,000.
The city is also looking for $1 million to pay for a radio communications tower at 4103 Meeks Drive, the former National Guard Armory now owned by the city.
Another plan is for $850,000 to pay for a 400 square foot building for pets plus a barn for farm animals at the animal shelter to take care of animals left behind by owners during a flood or storm.
The city also wants a shelter or garage, estimated for $100,000, at the police station to protect the boats and high water vehicles bought for rescues.
In addition, the city is seeking grants to test for asbestos for demolition of the old Emma Wallace school on John Avenue and the old Cove Elementary on DuPont Drive. The buildings, long abandoned and decaying, impede water flow, according to the city’s plan.
The city hopes to get $5 million for structure mitigation to buy and demolish, or elevate, buildings that were severely damaged by Harvey or those that have had repeated floodings.
The city council meeting with the proposals will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the council chamber next to the Orange Public Library.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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