LIVINGSTON - The Amite River Basin Commission held a meeting Wednesday evening to discuss its master plan to help reduce flooding from the state of Mississippi to Lake Maurepas. 

"We are proposing to develop construction projects throughout the basin, and we also want to take action by updating maps to improve building conditions and enhance flood awareness," Paul Sawyer, the executive director of the commission, said.

The meeting allowed residents to learn what the future holds for flood protection and how thousands of residents' flood insurance could be impacted. 

"We are inviting the community to have the discussion with us on what we have developed the ideas we have come up with. We want to receive their input, and from here on out, we are going to start developing these projects and take action based on what's in the master plan."

He says one of the actions includes the possible redrawing of FEMA flood maps.

"When we update these maps, that could eliminate or reduce flood insurance premiums for 30,000 households in the Amite River Basin, and again, that is money in people's pockets, and so people can see a material impact right away," he said.

Sawyer says they are actively working on four projects -- including Bayou Manchac, the lower sediment Amite River sediment removal, the Willow Glen pump station, and the upper Amite detention and retention.

"We have the money to start spending and to start developing flood protection projects in the river basin, so these are projects that are not sitting on the shelf, and we are taking action right now," he said. 

The next meeting is set for East Feliciana and St. James Parish, which will take place at Bluff Creek Baptist Church in Clinton.

Anyone interested can click here for more information on the master plan.