BATON ROUGE - In 2016 a third of the homes in Morning Glen flooded, while last week only three didn't. Some residents say they need to see change now because they can't bear flooding again.

"We wanted to downsize, but this is not the way we wanted to do it,” said Morning Glen resident Richard Collier.

Richard Collier and his wife, are like everyone except for three in the Morning Glen, gutting and rebuilding their home, while looking to officials for answers and relief.

"You know a lot of planning and committees with no actions doesn't help us at all," Collier said.

Residents put the blame on the city-parish for a few reasons, new developments, poor drainage, and lack of maintenance to waterways like Ward Creek, saying they are done.

"People in this neighborhood are furious because we have people right now that are just packing up and leaving because they don't want to deal with this,” Collier said.

Councilmember Laurie Adams hears those concerns and understands the frustration.

“I think it's going to take a multifaceted approach, we have a lot of work to get done," said Adams.

Reminding that it's a process that takes time and lots of paperwork.

"The city-parish is asking everyone to fill out the self-damage assessment, so we can get a better idea of how many houses in total are affected,” said Adams.

Adding even the relief won't be immediate.

"To access federal resources we'll need to meet a certain threshold," said Adams.

Saying there's always room for the parish to do more.

“I know that everyone cares and doesn't want to see this happen again, but it's time for us to press in and make sure this devastation doesn't happen again,” said Adams.

While for Richard he needed that more sooner. The damages pushed back his retirement and even with flood insurance, it'll cost a lot to fix everything up. Now, only time will tell what they do next, saying they’ll take it one day at a time.

Richard says what’s really kept him afloat is the help he’s gotten from churches, schools, and people in the community..

As of Monday across the state, more than 1500 people have filled out flood damage reports.
In EBR alone there are nearly 700 damaged homes. Click here for a damage report link.