Amelia residents tell Parish Council about recent home flooding

FRANKLIN — An attempt to regulate fireworks more strictly in Bayou Vista fizzled Wednesday. And two Amelia residents came to the St. Mary Parish Council with a com-plaint that has been heard elsewhere in recent years: Water is coming into homes that never flooded before.
The Amelia residents were Andrew Gros and Randy Bijeaux, who live in Marvin Gardens Subdivision.
Bijeaux has lived in the subdivision for 22 years without being flooded, but he said water has come into his home four times this year.
Gros said that, apart from being asked not to harass Gravity Drainage District No. 2A employees with complaints about the drainage, he’s found the parish and district offi-cials to be cooperative.
“But I don’t think we’re there yet,” Gros said.
The source of the flooding is something of a mystery. Gros said ditches in the area have been cleared. The parish Public Works Department used a remote camera to check culverts and found no obstructions.
Suspicion has fallen on a pump station upgrade that required removal and reinstallation of pumps; water coming into the subdivision from higher buildings on Barrow Street; and highway improvements on old U.S. 90.
The cause hasn’t been determined, said Parish President David Hana-griff, but governmental entities are working on the problem. Hanagriff also praised Amelia’s representative on the council.
“I’ve never seen a councilman work harder on drainage than Mark Duhon,” he said.
The Amelia flooding problems echoed con-cerns voiced by residents of Country Club Estates in Berwick and south of the railroad tracks in Patterson after one-day downpours in April and June 2019. Residents said homes that had never flooded before were suddenly vulnera-ble.
Both municipalities launched plans to allevi-ate the flooding: ditch-clearing and storm sewer work in Berwick, and a study of flow patterns in Patterson. The fixes in both cases are expected to run into the millions of dollars.
Councilman Craig Mathews of Jeanerette, who brought a drainage concern from west St. Mary to the council last month, said the problem extends beyond Amelia.
“I do want to go on the record that drainage issues are parishwide,” Mathews said.
Fireworks
Councilman Scott Ramsey of Bayou Vista had introduced an amendment to the parish fireworks ordinance, limiting the discharge of fireworks in Bayou Vista to 6-10 p.m. Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and July 3-4.
Ramsey said he’d hope to start a discussion leading up to the Fourth of July about the proper time to allow fireworks.
“I found out there are a lot of people who don’t like fireworks,” Ramsey said after the meeting. “And I found out there are a lot of people who like fireworks.”
Bayou Vista resident Ernie Voisin brought a petition with hundreds of signatures to a public hearing that preceded the council meeting Wednesday.
Council Vice Chair-woman Gwendolyn Hidalgo questioned whether fireworks should be allowed at all because of their negative effects, including those for people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Ramsey let the proposed amendment die without a vote. He said he found another solution with help from the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff sent cars to drive around Bayou Vista with their emer-gency lights on at 10 p.m. on the days leading up to Christmas, New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July, and at 1 a.m. on the holidays themselves.
“The visual of the sheriff’s car with the lights on is a signal that it’s time to go to bed,” Ramsey said.