By: Toni Miles
After nearly five years of obstacles, delayed progress and an extensive period of playing the waiting game as the City of Long Beach engaged in a years-long battle to try to secure an additional $9.5 million in FEMA funds to help with much-needed harbor repairs, work is now underway on the east side of the Long Beach Harbor.
“Progress is moving forward on the outer wall of the Long Beach Harbor,” says Long Beach Community Affairs Director Courtney Cuevas. “Both W.C. Fore and Borries are hard at work installing pylons and the concrete cap.”
“This vital concrete wall is being built to protect the inner harbor from future storms, reducing the strength of wave action before it impacts the harbor. It’s big step forward for the safety and resilience of our community’s waterfront,” Cuevas said.
And it comes not a moment too soon, as the 2025 hurricane season looms just around the corner, set to begin on June 1.
A few months ago, the City’s request for an additional $9.5 million in upfront FEMA funding for repairs was denied by an arbitration panel, although FEMA will reimburse the City for ninety-percent of the harbor repairs, once complete. However, this left City leaders scrambling to secure more funding from other sources to get the overall needed repairs going and complete at the harbor before requesting the FEMA reimbursement.
Hurricane Zeta made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, battering the Mississippi Gulf Coast, decimating all the boat slips and piers in the harbor and throughout the city.
