The St. Tammany Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Operations Department on Wednesday presented a series of projects that would mitigate flooding and keep key utilities in the parish up and running in the case of an emergency or natural disaster.

Director of Homeland Security Dexter Accardo, who headed up the Hazard Mitigation Plan Committee, said the parish has put together a “wish list” of needed projects that, if funded, are ready to go.

There are 15 construction projects on the committee’s list. Ten are designed to stop flooding in several parts of the parish by improving drainage. Four projects presented by the Environmental Services Department are designed to keep sewage, water and other utilities operating during and after an emergency. Another project would buy a siren system for the town of Bush that would warn residents of impending tornadoes. Accardo said there is also a need to fund the acquisition and demolition of blighted and abandoned structures that remain in the parish after Hurricane Katrina.

“They present a health and safety hazard, especially during an emergency,” Accardo told a gathering of parish residents at the St. Tammany Parish Council Chambers.

Accardo said the parish has to come up with a hazard mitigation plan every four years. In order to get funding for the projects, there has to be a plan in place. Accardo said the parish has been “proactive” in deciding what projects should be in the plan.

“The parish has a good reputation for being ready to go with projects,” he said. “We try to be ready, or else the money disappears.”

The projects, prioritized using a long list of requirements, have to be ready to go in case the funding comes in. Even though the projects just need funding, Accardo said they are just proposals, and there could be changes made to the plan. The two main issues that faced the committee in making a hazard mitigation plan were drainage and environmental problems in the parish.

Elizabeth deEtte Smythe, director of the engineering department, said most of the drainage projects are to stop flooding of homes in various subdivisions located from Madisonville to Slidell. Some projects require digging retention ponds, installing drainage culverts, covering drainage ditches and installing more drainage pipes. So far, the total needed for all the drainage projects is $10.2 million.

Glenn Daughdrill of the parish’s Environmental Services department said there are several projects that need to be done to keep parish utilities operating during and after emergencies.

Some of these include strengthening utility operations buildings to withstand Category 3 hurricanes, installing submersible pumps that operate under water in the sewage lift stations and installing water resistant electrical panel boxes that control sewage and water systems in low-lying parts of the parish.

Gina Campo, director of departments for St. Tammany Parish, said there is some money in the pipeline already. She said the Louisiana Recovery Authority is sending an unknown amount of funding to the parish for damages done by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike last year.

She said the parish is waiting to see if it will be a recipient of any funds from the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama last week.

“That’s why we put the list together. It’s a pilot program to have projects ready to go,” Campo said.

There will be two more public meetings on the hazard mitigation plan.

Residents can attend the second meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Boyet Junior High, 59295 Rebel Drive in Slidell.

The final meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. March 10 at the Fire District 3 Training Center located at 29278 U.S. Highway 190 at the corner of South Mill Road in Lacombe.

For a complete list of the hazard mitigation plan’s proposed projects, go to the parish’s Web site at www.stpgov.org and click on the Hazard Mitigation Planning link.