METAIRIE, La. — In Jefferson Parish, this weekend’s heavy rains not only flooded streets, it also caused some sewer lines to back up in one West Metairie neighborhood.
Monday, Facebook groups in the North Bridgedale area were abuzz with neighbors complaining about sewer problems during Saturday’s downpour.
“I had some residents send me pictures of their rain gauges where they had upward of 7, 7 and a half inches of rain in three or four hours,” JP Councilman Deano Bonano said.
Bonano, whose district includes parts of West Metairie says anytime you get that volume of rain, you’re going to have water in the street and some people may experience problems flushing their toilets.
“That’s just too much water for any of our systems to handle in too short of a period of time,” Bonano said.
Making matters worse, after a year of drought conditions, the soil settlement moves sewer pipes and creates cracks.
When rainwater gets into those cracks, it can overwhelm the sewer system.
Bonano says help is on the way. At this week’s JP Council meeting, members are expected to approve the hiring of a contractor to study and design improvements to this sewer lift station near Vineland and Transcontinental.
The goal is to add pumping capacity to the surrounding West Metairie neighborhoods.
“We’re getting ready to launch a sewer capital program and spend $100 million on replacing the oldest, most damaged sewer lines,” Bonano said. “As part of that process, we’re going to be looking at virtually all of our sewer lines to see where the most damaged ones are, so we can replace those.”
According to Bonano, he’s not aware of any sewer backups into people’s homes.
But, if anyone did, he’s asking that they call his district office, so he can report it to the parish.