WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) penned an op-ed in the Daily Advertiser discussing how major investments in infrastructure now will better prepare Louisiana for when the next hurricane hits.
“If anything highlights the importance of evacuation routes, hardening the grid, improving sewer and water, flood mitigation, coastal restoration — of infrastructure — it’s a storm like Hurricane Ida. Let’s ensure access to safe evacuation routes by investing in our roads and bridges. Let’s use natures forces to divert storms through coastal resiliency and restoration. Let’s prevent our homes and businesses from flooding in the first place with mitigation. Let’s protect our electric grid from extreme weather,” wrote Dr. Cassidy.
“We cannot let this happen again when we have the opportunity now to pass legislation to help Louisiana,” continued Dr. Cassidy.
The op-ed also ran in the Monroe News-Star, Alexandria Town Talk, Opelousas Daily World, and Beauregard Daily News.
Click here or read below for the op-ed.
Senator Bill Cassidy: The Infrastructure Bill Better Prepares Us for Future Hurricanes
Editor’s note: Following is a guest column submitted to Louisiana’s USA Today Network from Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.
Hurricane Ida, one of the strongest storms to ever hit the U.S., pummeled Louisiana’s coast on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. Ahead of the storm, bumper to bumper traffic jammed Interstate 10 as Louisianans attempted to evacuate. Ida knocked out power across the state, including the entire City of New Orleans. The storm brought intense flooding that took lives and devastated communities.
Hurricane Ida gave us a harsh reminder that we need to strengthen the infrastructure that protects us from the worst of these storms — improving highways and evacuation routes, hardening our electric grid and investing in flood mitigation. As Louisiana works to rebuild and recover, we need supplemental disaster aid. We must also take steps to prevent this level of devastation in the future. The bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which passed the U.S. Senate 69-30, does so much to prepares us for future storms and complements federal aid efforts.
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If anything highlights the importance of evacuation routes, hardening the grid, improving sewer and water, flood mitigation, coastal restoration — of infrastructure — it’s a storm like Hurricane Ida. Let’s ensure access to safe evacuation routes by investing in our roads and bridges. Let’s use natures forces to divert storms through coastal resiliency and restoration. Let’s prevent our homes and businesses from flooding in the first place with mitigation. Let’s protect our electric grid from extreme weather.
This doesn’t happen in lieu of supplemental disaster aid, but in addition to it. We can do this with the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
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