Now that the water has subsided, St. John residents can remain somewhat at ease that we were spared with the recent flood tragedy that flooded tens of thousands of homes across South Louisiana.

While we are still in the midst of Hurricane Season, we are asking residents to continue to keep their guard up.

The unprecedented amount of historical flooding that has occurred last week should be an eye opener to officials across the state. I am proud of the residents of St. John for their resiliency and strength over the last two weeks.

Our neighbors to the West and North of St. John suffered tremendous losses during the recent flood events, and St. John residents were eager to help in any way they could.

The high risk of flooding in our own parish did not stop residents from lending a helping hand for our neighbors. I ask that you continue to keep our neighbors in the entire South Louisiana region in your thoughts and prayers as they work to recover from devastation that is all too familiar to us.

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, the Parish Council discussed Resolution 16-44, which instructs administration to subdivide and create a drainage unit within the Public Works department.

For the last several years, the Council has stressed the need for a more proactive approach to drainage maintenance in St. John.

The unprecedented amount of flooding we have been experiencing across the parish, state and country stresses the need even more to have a regular maintenance schedule for our drainage arteries throughout the parish.

It is imperative we keep the water flowing, out of the way of businesses and residences.

Some of you may have noticed the activity in front of the Percy Hebert Building; construction of our new East Bank Government Complex is currently underway.

This long anticipated project started in 2009, with the need to centralize Parish Government services under one roof.

We look forward to its completion and the benefit it will serve to St. John residents and businesses.

Michael P. Wright is St. John the Baptist Parish Council District 5 representative. Contact him at District5@sjbparish.com or m.wright@sjbparish.com.