Livingston Parish roads covered in water after major rainfall

LIVINGSTON PARISH, La. (WAFB) - Another major rainfall leaves road covered in water around Livingston Parish.

Some homeowners say they feel like they are living in a puddle. “Well, it makes me wonder I we actually want to buy a house around here because this is just insane. I mean for what we pay here in rent, we could buy a house for, but I’m not willing to risk losing something that I own,” says Melissa Butler who lives in Walker.

Butler says pooling water around her house inched higher overnight.

She says she chose to keep her kids home from school today because she couldn’t even see her ditches under the high water and was scared to drive out of her driveway. However, this isn’t the first time her routine has been disrupted by flooding in her neighborhood.

“So, on the 19th, we saw the city or the parish, whoever, come and they had all of their equipment. They dug out both sides of our ditches, the entire way down this road and I was impressed,” adds Butler.

WAFB checked in with the Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Executive Director Mark Harrell says crews have been clearing out creeks and bayous that clogged up after Hurricane Ida, but many homeowners still saw water rising during this most recent rainstorm.

“There are some, but a lot of those homes are a little bit older and below BFE. So, that why we offer the elevation and acquisition through the Hazard Mitigation Program to try to either buy the homes out or elevate them,” explains Harrell.

Harrell says hundreds have applied for the Hazard Mitigation Program. Despite preventative clearing from emergency preparedness crews, there are still areas that need attention. The Livingston Parish Hurricane Ida Debris shows that everything in red has been cleaned out. The areas in blue are the ones they are currently working on.

“There are some homes that got a little bit of water in it, I don’t think there’s much, but an inch is a lot to the homeowner,” adds Harrell.

Harrell says homeowners can do their art too, by picking up debris from their yards, removing toys or just about anything that could float away and clog a drain.

Government officials are also asking folks to not drive through flooded roadways.

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