Intake process starts for sinking island off Louisiana coast

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Residents of an island near Louisiana that's sinking into the Gulf of Mexico are working with legal representatives and case managers hoping to help them relocate.

Louisiana's Office of Community Development Executive Director Pat Forbes tells The Houma Courier that representatives have been working with Isle de Jean Charles residents for several weeks.

The island has lost about 98% of its land over the past 60 years. It has 40 residents, many of whom belong to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw or the United Houma Indians tribes.

Resettlement options include moving into a planned 150-home community or getting funding for a home elsewhere. Forbes says residents don't have a deadline to decide, though federal funding for the project must be used by September 2022. He says construction may start on the community this year.