BATON ROUGE - Three times a year, 277 miles worth of herbicide is sprayed on plants in drainage canals through East Baton Rouge Parish.

The project covers 778 canal segments like ditches, earthen canals, lined canals, lined ditches, and subdivision ditches.

Director of Transportation and Drainage Fred Raiford says of the project, "It helps eliminate and reduce the growth pattern of the weed material that grows in our channels."

East Baton Rouge Parish is removing vegetation and sediment from other areas using an excavator.

"We're trying to get to the areas that need the most attention because during every rainfall we want to make sure we can help move that water as quickly as possible," Raiford said.

All of these projects tie into the Comite River Diversion Canal - the East Baton Rouge flood risk reduction project. This includes the cleaning of the five tributaries.

"Once something has been completed we will look at trying to evaluate what projects can we do to help maintain some of the channels. Do we need to do more maintenance? Do we need to do more widening at certain locations? All those are components under the overall plan for the stormwater master plan," Raiford said.

This project is intended reduce the flood risk for residents in the parish.