MT. AIRY— St. John the Baptist Parish Council members have been fighting with railroad companies for three years over the past lack of maintenance on their drains, causing local neighborhoods to flood.

At the Council meeting Tuesday, members said they have had enough.

“The railroads take care of none of the drainage, which is on their property,” District 2 Councilman Ranney Wilson said. “They don’t want us to go and do it, but they’re not doing it.”

Parish leaders said they are hesitant to send their own people to clean the drains on the railroad’s property because the workers could be used in other places, and the parish doesn’t want to be sued.

“I’m very frustrated, and I don’t care if they sue us or not,” Wilson said. “I want to it get done.”

Wilson’s district, which includes Mt. Airy, Garyville and Reserve, is one of the areas that floods because of the clogged drains.

He feels the railroads should dig the ditches and clear out the drains because weeds and trees are growing in them, causing blockage.  The railroads in his area are CN Railroad and Illinois Central Railroad.

Wilson said water tends to go downhill and if there is blockage, flooding happens.

In Mt. Airy, culverts can be seen filled with rocks, which are meant to surround the culverts. Trash and weeds are also in the culverts.

Wilson remembers when he was a boy being able to crawfish in the canals because they were so clean.

“Now everything is overgrown,” he said. “They do nothing, and personally I’m tired of it. Some areas are worse then others, but they are all bad.”

Wilson said residence in his district flood on a regular bases due to poor drainage.

“If (the railroads) don’t flood, then they don’t care,” Wilson said. “But our people flood.”

Wilson believes the railroads don’t keep up with the drains maintained simply because they don’t want to.

“They don’t want to pay for it,” he said. “They have a responsibility, and they should live up to that responsibility.”

On Tuesday, Parish Council members asked their legal counsel, Jeffery Perrilloux, what steps can be taken against the railroads.

Perrilloux informed them a letter was being drafted addressing their concerns.

Council members advised Perrilloux to imply in the letter if they don’t hear from the railroad companies after a certain amount of days, the parish will sue.