Southern Louisiana is well-known for Cajun culture, bayous, and unfortunately, hurricanes and storm surges.

In a new project being dubbed “Cajun Coral,” however, industry and community leaders may have found a way to begin protecting homes against dangerous storms while also helping the environment.

Concrete “reef modules” have been created and installed in marshes of areas that have high frequencies of storm surges to help protect against the levee system being overwhelmed during flooding.

According to the Grow Louisiana Coalition:

“Over the past eight years, ConocoPhillips and Ducks Unlimited have restored or enhanced over 800 acres immediately outside of the Larose to Golden Meadow Hurricane Protection System. This work provides shoreline protection, marsh enhancement and terracing that increase the resilience of the levee system and protect the surrounding communities. This area is exposed to increasing storm surges and weather events such as the storms hitting the Louisiana coast in 2020 and 2021, as well as erosion from day-to-day tidal action.

“Natrx, A Shell GameChanger company, utilized its intelligent, adaptive infrastructure platform to create and install a set of custom reef modules nicknamed ‘Cajun Coral.’ The goal of this installation was to stabilize 750 feet of a newly completed marsh creation project. With the help of Danos, 180 feet of the custom-designed Cajun Coral was installed along with 620 feet of ultralight oyster stakes.”

Time will tell if these new reef modules will help relieve stress from the levee system during storm season. If it proves effective, it may prove to be a promising strategy for other vulnerable coastlines across the United States.

Watch the full video from Grow Louisiana Coalition here.