The conditions of East Baton Rouge Parish’s drainage canals and bayous, particularly in light of the large-scale flooding in August, are the subject of a report the Metro Council will receive at its Sept. 14 meeting.
Councilman John Delgado requested the report from the city-parish Department of Public Works-Maintenance Division.
The city-parish is responsible for maintaining drainage, says Delgado, whose district includes Dawson Creek and Ward Creek among others.
Delgado says his constituents told him about overgrown canals before and after record flooding engulfed many parts of East Baton Rouge last month.
“My concern is that if we haven’t maintained them, did our lack of maintenance exacerbate the flooding?” he says.
Delgado has requested information about the current status of canals, whether work has been performed on them as a result of flooding, which canals are flowing properly and which ones pose a threat because of obstructions, and whether canals need to be cleared or dredged.
Delgado says proactive steps need to be taken now to ensure that water can adequately flow through drainage canals and bayous since it’s hurricane season. There’s also no guarantee that another large-scale rain event will not strike again soon, he ways.
“Just because this is a 1,000-year flood doesn’t mean that we’re safe for the next 999 years,” he says. “Just because it’s a rare event doesn’t mean that you can’t have two back-to-back events.”
Coincidentally, Delgado says his request comes at a time when the city-parish already is collecting similar information to present to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Federal money may be available to help the city-parish maintain its drainage canals and bayous.
“The pressing nature of it is that we just don’t know when the next rain event will hit,” he says. “We were blessed that (Hurricane) Hermine didn’t head our way.”
—Alexandria Burris
