By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Rising waters added to heightened tensions as some in LaPlace questioned why heavy rains Sunday and Monday resulted in street flooding.

“Why was the water not moving into our drainage system, and when will we get an adequate sewage drainage system to support rain downfall to prevent the street flooding?” Tiffany Blystone said.

Blystone, a homeowner on Acadia Drive and resident of LaPlace for almost 32 years, said heavy rain Sunday night flooded her street and she thinks the parish should be concerned about what the future would hold if another hurricane hit the parish, given that a mere thunderstorm flooded streets.

Michael Hill, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell, said Sunday’s thunderstorm was slow moving and dumped heavy rainfall between 2 and 5 p.m.

“Some places might have picked up around two inches,” he said. “If you get some heavy rain with it and it sits over the area, you could pick up a quick two, three inches. It’s not really anything out of the ordinary this time of the year to get a heavy pop-up thunderstorm in the afternoon.”

Sunday night and again Monday afternoon, LaPlace experienced intense pop-up storms resulting in up to three inches of rain and high winds of up to 50 mph within a 45-minute time period.

Jennifer Snyder Mince, who lives on the corner of Chatsworth Drive and Ellerslie Avenue in LaPlace, said she and her husband moved their trucks into the street Sunday night to prevent people from driving through and pushing water into their garage.

She said it’s the first time since Hurricane Isaac the water has gotten that high, and that the pumps were not on Sunday night during or immediately after the heavy rain.

Parish officials said almost all drainage pumps are controlled automatically by float switches, and the level of the water determines when the pumps turn on and off. They said the pumps are automatic with the exception of the Airport and McReine stations, which are monitored during rain events.

“Although a number of new pump stations were installed in several neighborhoods over the last several years, many more are needed,” Parish President Natalie Robottom said Tuesday. “Additionally, it is difficult to maintain proper drainage during intense rain events such as the ones over the last two days.”

There are 22 pumps located throughout the parish: two on Homewood Place, three in LaPlace Park, four on Persimmon Street, one on Crevasse Avenue, two in Belle Grove, one at McReine Road, three on Airport Road, two on Parlange Loop, two on Chatsworth Drive and two on Welham Loop. There is one pending installation on Redbud Street.

Robottom said the parish’s emergency responders and Weather Protocol Team responded to calls of street flooding, power outages, flying debris and fallen tree limbs throughout LaPlace over the past few days.

Parish officials said drainage issues are immensely compounded when residents use the drainage system as a garbage disposal, and they advise residents to call 911 to report any issues or concerns, including drainage, sewer, flooding or fire.

By going through the 911 system, officials said it allows the issue to be properly documented and then someone (depending on concern) to be properly dispatched to alleviate it.