Baby alligators, crabs and trout found in standing water

By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — The president of the Foxwood Manor Homeowners Association in LaPlace brought a petition to the St. John Parish Council in hopes of getting something done about the constant flooding issues.

Daniel Wilcox stood in front of the parish council Tuesday night and read from a letter put together and signed by the residents of the Foxwood Manor subdivision off Belle Terre Boulevard. in LaPlace.

The petition claims that these areas are flooding due to high tides from Lake Maurepas, and that the area has flooded more than four times in the past five years from rising water. It also states that the water is backing up in the LaPlace Plantation Canal and flooding the streets.

“We received 12 inches of rain during Rita,” Wilcox said. “It took a whole day after Rita for the water to start receding, and that was on a sunny, clear day.”

Wilcox said the streets had small baby alligators, trout and blue crabs in the standing water.

He also said there is only one way in and out of the subdivision and the deepest of the waters are at the LaPlace Plantation Canal, which is the entrance and exit of the subdivision.

The petition stated the “waters barely overtopped back porches of homes and were one-fourth of the way high on most garage drives.”

“Our main concert is just getting acknowledgment,” he said. “We want to get to where the water does not back up into the subdivision and where the streets are passable to get in and out.”

The petition also stated that, “A normal commuter vehicle could not pass or escape the subdivision for emergency, work or law enforcement.”

Another concern of the neighborhood is the displacement of water coming from all the new development on Belle Terre Boulevard, which will also run into the LaPlace Plantation Canal, he said.

A meeting was arranged by Councilwoman Jaclyn Hotard, along with Foxwood residents, Parish President Nickie Monica and Parish Engineer C.J. Savoie to discuss the options to helping alleviate the rising waters.