By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – When LaPlace resident Jan Childress, her husband Keith and their two young daughters rolled back into town Friday, they found U.S. Highway 51 flooded yet again. The family had already seen the effects of Tropical Storm Isidore in the River Forest Subdivision. They did not even have to see the streets in their community to know that Hurricane Lili was responsible for some flooding.

“My husband and I went to Jackson (during Lili),” Childress said. “When we were coming back into town, we saw that Highway 51 was flooded and we knew that our subdivision would be flooded as well.”

Childress called family members from Jackson to check on the amount of flooding in the residential community. At the time, things seemed to be okay. Then the wind shifted. By Thursday there was some coastal flooding in the development.

“When we got back on Friday, we had some flooding,” Childress said. “It was not nearly as much as when Isidore was here. It compared to about the fourth day after Isidore.”

When L’Observateur talked to Childress and other residents of River Forest last week they were preparing homes for a flood. The lakefront residents said they are use to having some water in the roads, but not being stranded in homes. After Isidore, residents were not taking any chances.

Flooding caused by Isidore kept residents trapped in homes for about three days. Childress said about three feet of water on her street following the storm. She compared the view from her home to the view from an island.

“The only way in or out of my street would be by boat,” Childress said.

Storms have come and gone. River Forest has been hammered by more than one heavy rain, flooding multiple times. But Isidore brought the worst flooding she has seen since moving into the development.

“I remember once when LaPlace got pounded with water and the whole subdivision flooded but it drained off quickly,” Childress said. “I guess with Isidore the ground was so saturated it could not hold anymore.”

The residents were lucky with Lili. Some streets flooded, but not nearly to the extent they did just one week before.

“We were very fortunate,” Childress said. “Lili slowed down. I can not imagine a Category Four hurricane.”

River Forest residents said poor drainage, low elevation of streets, a pump on Airline Drive and coastal flooding are some of the biggest contributors to street flooding in the subdivision. The elevation of the street near Childress’ home is 3.685 feet. She said she was told streets should be at least five feet above sea level.

“If the street is the appropriate elevation we would not have this problem,” Childress said. “It is kind of hard (when the road floods) when you have one way in and one way out of the subdivision. We still love it back here. The only problem is flooding.”

After the two storms left standing water in River Forest, Childress and other residents are seeing an unexpected nuisance – an increase in mosquitos.

Childress contacted Mosquito Control after she returned to her home to find swarms of mosquitos. Mosquito Control said they would look into the mosquito problem in the subdivision.

So what is it going to take to get parish drainage problems remedied, to prevent flooding and flood-related problems? Residents throughout St. John the Baptist Parish said community involvement and the construction of a flood levee may be the only hope.

“I guess all residents should go to a council meeting,” Childress suggested. “I do not know if there is a solution to flooding unless there is a levee.”