LAPLACE — While several parishes are drying out and cleaning up from the devastating floods of recent weeks, residents in St. John the Baptist Parish are considering themselves fortunate.

The storm that dropped nearly three trillion gallons of water on areas in and around Baton Rouge did not have much of an initial impact on St. John.

It was feared that the floodwaters trickling down to St. James Parish would continue to St. John.

Fortunately for residents who are still shell-shocked from Hurricane Isaac in 2012 and a tornado that struck the area in February, the Parish was spared.

It was a long week, though, which put nerves on edge again as residents watched for any signs of flooding.

“It’s been a very long, difficult week of waiting and watching,” St. John Parish President Natalie Robottom said. “The slow movement helped us. The fact that there is so much property to the north of us helped us because it absorbed a lot of that water. The lakes didn’t get high very quickly and, when the wind shifted to a southeasterly flow, that gave us more time. We were very lucky and we did well through this event.”

St. John Sheriff Mike Tregre agreed that, although it was a trying week, the area was lucky this time.

“We dodged a disaster,” he said. “It was a lot of déjà vu.”

As of Monday, the flood warning for the Parish had been cancelled except for the most northern portion and river levels were continuing to drop. Drainage outlets were continuing to drain, albeit very slowly, and residents were beginning to relax.

Officials, meanwhile, were taking a breath and taking stock.

“What we’ve learned, what we’re continuing to learn is, every event is different,” Robottom said. “There really was no precedent for this. It showed us it’s not always where we think it’s coming from. Areas flooded that never saw it before.

“We really weren’t sure how much of this would come to us or go through us to the lake. St. John was really iffy for a while. Unfortunately, because we’ve done this so many times, we have a system in place.”

Because of the wait-and-see aspect of this event, officials were able to add several gauges to local waterways to monitor the situation using local firefighters and deputies, who monitored those gauges hourly.

“We spent a whole week watching water, watching measurements, riding to the gauges 30 times a day,” Tregre said. “It was like anticipating the birth of a baby.”

Robottom said the state’s response was strong. The National Guard was deployed, along with boats and several high-water vehicles to assist in any rescues.

Instead, Tregre’s office ended up sending a dozen deputies per day to help rescue people in neighboring parishes.

“They rescued hundreds of people,” he said.

Division B Councilwoman-At-Large Jaclyn Hotard said she was pleased to see the workers on the ground making preparations, cleaning drains and protecting the Parish’s water system.

“Everywhere I went I saw workers preparing,” she said. “I do think everyone did a good job. It was a tremendous effort. Residents, too, especially paid close attention to what was going on. The flow of information was good, telling people to be prepared. Have your stuff ready to go if you need to leave. It’s never a bad idea to have that stuff in place anyway.”

Residents are urged to remain diligent, especially as elevated rainfall totals are possible throughout the week. With the ground already saturated, drainage will be slow.  Sandbags are available at Captain G. Bourgeois, Railroad Avenue, the Garyville Fire Station, the Wallace Fire Station and the Pleasure Bend Fire Station.

The main thing is, the system worked.

“Everybody came together, everybody knew the system, everybody knew their role,” Tregre said. “The state was overly cautious. They provided us with best case scenarios and worst case scenarios. They were ready. They had boats we’ve never seen before. As I look back on it, I don’t think there’s anything we could have done any better. You know how we do it in Louisiana. We come together for Saints, LSU and hurricanes. Nobody else comes together like we do.”