NEW ORLEANS — All the water may be gone, but piles of debris show just how much damage intense flooding rain did to a Destrehan neighborhood last Thursday night.
“It was normal, and then an hour and a half later, it was chaos, you know,” said Jereme Ledet
Ledet has lived in his home on Thomas Coby Drive for seven years. This is the second time in a year and a half it’s flooded.
“It’s hard to see all your belongings outside, for the second time, you know, and it was all new,” said Ledet.
Around the corner, a water line on the outside of Wayland Charles’ house, means a lot of work on the inside.
“I’ve never been through this before, so it’s been an eye-opener for me,” said Charles. “My dining room is a step-down. So, the dining room was like a mini pool. We had to pump that water out of there and then of course you had to start doing the cleanup process.”
St. Charles Parish president Matthew Jewell declared a state of emergency last Friday and says that much rain in a short period of time overwhelmed the parish’s pumping systems.
“I don’t know if there is any pumping system on the face of the earth that can keep up with that amount of water,” said Jewell.
While a company contracted by the parish works to get rid of all the front yard debris, parish leaders are having to work on a drainage master plan.
A parish spokesperson says improvement projects will be part of that plan, but details are being worked out. For folks still cleaning up a mess a week later, a plan should have already been in place.
“Something needs to be done. I can’t be worried every time it rains that I’m going to flood,” said Ledet. “It’s ridiculous.”
For Charles, whose car still has water in it, he says when it rains, water doesn’t seem to drain. Now, he’s trying to practice patience.
“I understand it’s going to be a process because I’m not the only one going through this. You’ve got almost 200 and something people going through this. So, it’s going to take a minute,” said Charles.
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