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Metro Council and City-Parish discuss next steps in drainage and flood relief

2 years 10 months 1 day ago Wednesday, May 26 2021 May 26, 2021 May 26, 2021 10:14 PM May 26, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- The Metro Council held their first meeting since the devastating flooding around the parish bringing up drainage and relief.

The city-parish told the council what they've continued to say, that drainage projects are a process and they're doing everything they can to speed things up.

"I believe you will see progress towards these, and I say I believe because a lot of these projects are in the works,” said Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.

The city-parish told the council debris pick up will begin Thursday, relief is en route, and explained why flood mitigation is taking so long saying the Corp of Engineers have to finish their studies.

"We can't even touch it until at least September or October because of the environmental studies going on, however, we could spend money at our own risk,” said EBR Director of Transportation and Drainage Fred Raiford.

Council members commended the city-parish for their work thus far.

"I think as much as they can do, they're doing I think, a process is always challenging, waiting for federal funds is always a challenge,” Mayor Pro Tem council member Lamonte Cole.

"With the resources they have they are doing the absolute best that they can," said council member Dwight Hudson.

But added that there is always more work to be done to prevent this from happening again.

"We would like to see a lot more maintenance,” said council member Arron Moak.

"I think we need to have mass education forms and again as we continue to work on maintenance and the stormwater master plan,” said Cole.

"I want to take another look at our dedicated taxes and make sure we are reflecting the priorities of east baton rouge parish through our tax dedication,” said Hudson.

The City parish told the council in the next few weeks they can expect more updates on old projects and new ones.

"We are in a position now that we can move some of this forward and examine many of those drainage areas in addition to the existing projects,” said Broome.
A part of that news will affect Morning Glen, a neighborhood where dozens of homes flooded.

"We just got approval on one of the projects on Wards creek today, just to get started, just to get started,” said Raiford.

When discussing relief, the city-parish says documentation has been provided to the governor who will review it before submission to FEMA. Adding that updates will come in the next week.

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