DES ALLEMANDS, La. (Louisiana First) — The Bayou Region's been home to people and wildlife for thousands of years. Still, the unique culture formed among the Louisiana wetlands is in an era of crisis. Land is disappearing at a rapid rate each year, according to geoscientific research.

The state has lost more than 2,000 square miles since the 1930s, which one awareness agency reported is about the size of Delaware. A football field-sized area sinks each 100 minutes.

"Louisiana, water levels are already rising because we've been sinking," said Prof. Alex Kolker of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

Kolker said climate change is to blame for much of the modern land loss. He said the scientific consensus is that the Earth is warming as carbon and other chemicals are pumped into the atmosphere, and Louisiana is in a unique position compared to other states because hundreds of manufacturing and petrochemical plants stand tall across the state. The chemicals from the companies can contribute to health problems and climate change, Kolker said, and sea levels continue to rise even more.

"For people that live and work along the coast, particularly outside the levee system, that means those areas will flood more frequently," Kolker said.

Arthur Matherne has seen that scenario come to life many times in recent memory. He operates an airboat company in Des Allemands, and his property is situated between multiple levees. These man-made structures, intended to minimize flooding in certain areas, pushed more water into Matherne's property.

"They put us in a funnel," Matherne said. "The water can't go where it used to go, so it has to go somewhere else. We've never flooded in any hurricane. During Hurricane Ida, we had almost three feet of water in the house."

Matherne said additions to alleviate the problem are not working.

"They're trying to bring these water diversion things, but that would be like me peeing in an Olympic swimming pool and trying to make it saltwater," Matherne said. "It's just not enough."

Matherne took Louisiana First Investigates members on a property tour to show the vegetation that's been lost and the wildlife losing its territory. As the waters rise, so do insurance premiums.

"Our flood insurance went from under $1,000 to $5,000," Matherne said. "Not only do we get flooded. We get slapped in the face with the flood insurance."

The challenges brought by this crisis are causing more people to leave each year, Matherne said.

"People that have been there their whole lives, through two or three generations of fishermen, just up and left," Matherne said.

Saltwater continues to move north, and Matherne said that is also impacting the wildlife in the area.

"It's nice that we're catching redfish and speckled trout closer in, but it's bad because it's killing all the freshwater vegetation that everything else lives in," Matherne said.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority reported the land loss crisis will only continue without "bold action." It is estimated that flood damages will increase from $15 billion to more than $24 billion each year.

Matherne said he hopes something's done to protect the place he's lived in all his life.

"God knows," Matherne said. "God knows."

In 'Au Revoir, Louisiane' Part I, Louisiana First Investigates interviewed a Golden Meadow netmaker about his craft and reported on a shrimp industry impacted by imported seafood.

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