In the News

Business owners, residents staying patient, but still frustrated over constant flooding

Washington, DC, September 4, 2019 | WAFB | Lester Duhe

Tags: Flood , Accountability , Critical Infrastructure

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Many people in East Baton Rouge Parish are fed up that whenever there's a hard rain, it seems to flood, like during Wednesday evening's storm. It makes people question how we would fare if a hurricane would hit the Baton Rouge area.

Both residents and business owners saying whenever it rains, they're worried.

A video taken by Cody Mack shows a majority of South Acadian Thruway near the I-10 off ramp underwater.

"From the wrong way sign all the way through, up to the TJ Ribs entrance. It was all maybe 8, 9, 10 inches piled up on the road," said Mack.

Another video shows how high the water was on Corporate Boulevard.

Meanwhile, back over at Mestizo restaurant, they're now keep sandbags out all year long.

"We basically block every doorway into the restaurant from the outside water coming in, so we block this up against all the doors," said owner, Jim Urdiales.

His restaurant has flooded multiple times recently, and that's why he shut it down early Wednesday evening when he saw the water starting to rise.

"At some point, no one was going or coming out because they know this area is flooding, so it does decrease sales," said Urdiales.

EBR Parish officials say they now have the funding to assist with drainage, but it'll take some time.

"Realistically, we're looking at, at least a four year process. That's how long it takes to go through getting the channels, doing the finishing up of the engineering work, buying the necessary right-of-way that needs to be done," said Fred Raiford, director of Transportation and Drainage for EBR Parish.

"As you can see, the water line is here on my house," said Mechelle Evans.

Residents living in the Hundred Oaks Subdivision, like Evans on Honeysuckle Avenue, say when it rains and Dawson Creek begins to rise, the area usually floods.

Both residents who live in the Hundred Oaks subdivision and some business owners met with Congressman Garret Graves on Thursday, Aug. 29 to express their concerns. They tell WAFB it was a very productive meeting and they're being patient, just hopeful solutions come soon.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome's office released a statement addressing Wednesday's flooding:

"This administration is committed to improving drainage throughout the City-Parish. Everyday our crews are cleaning drains, ditches and canals. We're also pushing forward on major upgrades like the $255 million East Baton Rouge Flood Risk Reduction project that will clean, snag and in some cases widen 66 miles of tributaries in the City-Parish. Work on that is scheduled to begin this spring and estimated to last about four years. We've also taken big steps recently to secure more federal funds for a number of additional hazard mitigation projects. Big drainage improvements are on the way."