TERREBONNE PARISH - Hurricane season begins Monday, June 1 and many residents who live outside of the protection of the New Orleans area levee system are eager to see storm protection initiatives such as the "Morganza to the Gulf" project completed in their area.

The Morganza to the Gulf initiative is a federally-authorized hurricane and storm damage risk reduction project in Terrebonne Parish. 

It involves the construction of approximately 98 miles of levee with 20 floodgates, along with a lock complex in the Houma Navigational Canal.

The project has been in the works for about 20 years and during that time, the local government has worked with residents to prepare the land and reduce the cost of the project by billions of dollars. 

Despite these efforts, the initiative's Project Manager, Mitchell Marmande says federal aid is "critical" to the project's completion. 

In Washington, Congressman Steve Scalise and Garret Graves are among those currently working to get federal aid for the project. They've asked the office of Management and Budget to review the new project's plan, which has a lower price tag.

Marmande and others in the Terrebonne area, grateful for these efforts and hopeful they'll be successful are determined to continue working to refine the initiative. 

"Federal money is critical to our success in the future," Marmande said. "But having said that, this local group at the levee district, we're not going to stop for one second."