Slidell west to Hammond at the end of 2022. Along with a lower elevation angle, the new location would enable lower level monitoring of storm activity in the Baton Rouge area, where the lowest sampling elevation would drop from 4000-6000 feet above the surface to 300-600 feet. Destroyed radars The NEXRAD site located in Cayey, Puerto Rico was destroyed during the passage of Hurricane Maria through the region in September 2017. In addition to a neighboring Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) site that was rendered temporarily inoperable but ultimately survived, the Department of Defense deployed two short-range X-band radars on the island to provide radar coverage until the FAA-maintained NEXRAD site was restored. In June 2018, this NEXRAD radar site was restored to fully operational condition and was reinforced with several lightning rods and secured with a stronger fiberglass dome that included using more than 3,000 bolts. On August 27, 2020, the NEXRAD radar site located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was destroyed by Hurricane Laura as the eye of the Category 4 storm—which packed wind gusts recorded around in the city—passed over the site after it made landfall. NEXRAD radars based in Houston, Shreveport and Fort Polk were used to fill gaps in radar coverage within portions of Southwestern Louisiana until the Lake Charles site was rebuilt; the NWS Radar Operations Center also deployed a SMART-R vehicle on loan from the University of Oklahoma to provide supplemental radar data on Hurricane Delta in advance of its track into the region (nearly paralleling that of Hurricane Laura) in late October. Operational service to the Lake Charles NEXRAD radar site was restored in January 2021, following a four-month, $1.65-million reconstruction project that included the replacement of the radome and internal equipment and repairs to the station's radome pedestal, tower, fence and equipment shelters. Future enhancements Current NEXRAD system The National Weather Service keeps a list of upcoming improvements to the WSR-88D system. Multi-function Phased Array Radar (MPAR) Beyond dual-polarization, the advent of phased array radar will probably be the next major improvement in severe weather detection. Its ability to rapidly scan large areas would give an enormous advantage to radar meteorologists. Its additional ability to track both known and unknown aircraft in three dimensions would allow a phased array network to simultaneously replace the current Air Route Surveillance Radar network, saving the United States government billions of dollars in maintenance costs. The