Money secured for long-sought Louisiana flood-control canal
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana will receive the federal funding needed to finance a flood-control project in the Baton Rouge region that has been on the drawing board for three decades.
Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves announced Thursday that nearly $1.4 billion in new federal funding for flood and hurricane protection projects includes $343 million for the Comite River Diversion Canal.
Combined with prior federal financing, Graves says the project has enough money for construction.
The 12-mile (20-kilometer) diversion channel will siphon high water from the Comite (KOH'-meet) River and send it to the Mississippi River, to reduce flooding near the Comite. Supporters say that could protect thousands of homes from future floods.
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