By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The River Parishes were spared any serious damage this weekend from Tropical Storm Lee, which brought heavy rains, strong winds and some tidal flooding across southeast Louisiana.

In St. John the Baptist Parish, heavy rains and some tidal surge produced street flooding in low lying areas of the parish that are prone to standing water during heavy periods of rain, said parish spokesperson Paige Braud.

“Flooding was reported in the River Forest and Foxwood subdivisions, and there was a lot of standing water on Capt. G. Bourgeois Road, Persimmon Street and along Woodland Drive,” she said. “We also had some tidal flooding on U.S. 51 near the interstate interchanges in LaPlace and Ruddock and along Peavine Road and Frenier Road, which were all closed Saturday.”

There was also flooding in the Homewood Place neighborhood of Reserve, where a major drainage project just got under way. Braud said the results of that project will eliminate longstanding flood problems in that neighborhood.

Braud said Tuesday most of the water had gone down, but there were still some reports of water near the back of River Forest and Foxwood. The I-10 interchanges have re-opened, but water was still present on U.S. 51 in LaPlace.

Braud said no homes or business reported any flooding as a result of the storm.

The parish reported one fallen tree that caused some minor damage to a mobile home in Edgard but nothing that required displacement of residents.

“Now that the wind has shifted we can expect to see everything dry out by later this week,” Braud said.

Braud said power outages were isolated, and no one in the parish went without electricity for more than a few hours over the weekend.

In St. Charles Parish, officials reported rainfall totals anywhere from 10 to 14 inches, which caused isolated street flooding throughout the parish.

Parish spokesperson Renee Simpson said a total of 31 streets reported high water as a result of rainfall, and two houses in the Norco area reported partial flooding.

Simpson said trees were down in several areas, with three damaging homes and cars in the parish.

A handful of trees fell onto power lines causing about 200 homes in the area to go without power for a short period at the peak of the storm.

Simpson said there were four reported tornado warnings in the parish, but no damage was reported.

“We are grateful to our residents, who heeded our warnings and appeared to have limited travel during dangerous conditions,” Simpson said. “We also received great assistance from the public in identifying streets with high water and other potentially dangerous situations. We continue to urge residents to be prepared for storm threats, as the 2011 season is just heating up.”

In St. James Parish, spokespeson Melissa Wilkins said the parish received about 10 inches of rainfall throughout the weekend with no structural damage, power outages or homes flooding.