LIVINGSTON - The 2016 flood raised many challenges for those on the frontlines in Livingston Parish. 

First and foremost, how to effectively rescue thousands of people under the most trying circumstances where floodwaters covered nearly every square inch of ground in the parish.

"We were bringing people out of the water, and had nowhere to bring them in 2016, other than to another parish, because there was nothing here," Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director, Chris Anderson said. 

Since the flood, plans began to grow to create a safe space, higher ground, so to speak, where people could shelter in the event of a natural disaster.

In 2023, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard even announced a new multi-million dollar emergency response and evacuation center would soon break ground in the parish.

"It's been a long vision of mine to build some sort of rescue center," Ard said during a 2023 announcement. 

But those plans washed away when funding dried up.  The sheriff simply could not secure enough funding, leaving parish government to attempt to develop a similar safe space.

A property off Frost Road is the proposed site of a new emergency operations center and safehouse here in Livingston Parish. The facility, currently in the design phase, sits at about 90,000 square feet.

Anderson says the facility will hold around 5,500 people in a space that will look similar to a gymnasium. 

"Then if we had to go in a shelter-ready scenario for safe evacuation, it can hold between 1,200 and 1300 people as a shelter," Anderson said. 

Right now, parish officials estimate the cost around $30 million, funded by federal and state grants. 

"This new facility is going to be under a safe room, FEMA rating, which is the entire building will be rated at a 175-mile-an-hour wind rating, so that gives us a little bit better sustainability in the event that it's a hurricane or storm coming in that the building will be one protected, and also the people in it," Anderson said. 

Livingston Parish Emergency Officials hope to have on a final design for the center by next month, and they hope to break ground on an actual facility later this year.