LAPLACE — Although parts of St. John the Baptist Parish received a foot of rain over a four-day period, the region escaped widespread damage as a result of Hurricane Harvey, parish officials said.

More concerning, according to Parish President Natalie Robottom, are new and persistent street flooding events in locations that traditionally don’t take on a significant amount of standing water.

If the problem continues, major sections of St. John Parish could suffer in the wake of a more direct storm strike.

Robottom referenced roads in Belle Terre and River Forest subdivisions, Belle Terre Boulevard, English Colony Drive, Cambridge Drive and U.S. 51 as problem areas.

“We’ve never had water all the way up (U.S. 51) to almost Airline Highway,” Robottom said. “That is a huge concern. That is our access to the interstate.”

The problem was exemplified Tuesday when Louisiana State Police shut down one lane traffic of U.S. 51 during the flooding’s worst hours.

“There are things that we are seeing that we have never seen,” Robottom said. “People will say we have always had problems on Belle Terre Boulevard, and we have, but what I see now is different. It’s bad. It’s deeper then it has ever been before and it’s quicker. If we have three or four inches of rain, there is no reason for that area to flood like that, that quickly.”

Robottom points to the parish’s natural drainage flow across Interstate 10 into Lake Pontchartrain as a potential growing problem.

St. John’s many canals flow under I-10 through a series of 33 culverts that exist between exits 206 and 209.

“We’re not seeing the water flow, we think should go through them,” Robottom said. “This pattern is extremely concerning to us.”

The system, dating back decades, was established when south of I-10 in LaPlace included a lot more sugar cane and undeveloped land. Urban sprawl has since eliminated many natural absorbing grasslands.

Debris collection inside the culverts is also concerning, Robottom said.

Harvey’s impact

As of late this week, St. John Parish officials said 439 structures were inspected for Harvey-related damage and only five were reported damaged. Of those five, four were considered minor and one was considered major.

According to the parish, ‘major’ denotes damaged electrical components.

Edgard took in the most rain, registering 12 inches between Sunday evening and Wednesday evening. Garyville/Mt. Airy sustained 11.71 inches over the same time period, followed by Reserve (9.74) and LaPlace (6.72).

Robottom said her office fielded significantly fewer calls during this storm event when compared to similar weather episodes.

“The people tolerated more this event because they were watching what it could have been (on TV),” she said. “Even when you compare (what happened in Texas) to our Isaac, there are a lot of similarities but the degree and number of people is less. It’s not just us. This is happening across two states. The very same thing that happens here, happens there.”

The Rev. Oscar Nelson of St. Mark Baptist Church in Mt. Airy said his community benefited greatly through Harvey due to the contributions of Pin Oak Terminals.

“They are doing a tremendous job helping out the neighborhood and community,” Nelson said. “They have cleaned some of the ditches out. They have helped the neighbors, passing out sandbags.”

Chief Administrative Officer Danny Guidry said Pin Oak staffers pumped water from a four-street area between Nalco and Pin Oak into a retention pond on Pin Oak’s property.

“Typically, you might have at least 20 or 30 homes under water and there might be one that took on water this time in the back porch,” Guidry said. “We’re doing this community project in conjunction with the parish. What we’re doing is not pumping water on anybody else. Unfortunately, we can only help the people in our area right now. I wish we could help the whole parish but we’re not in a situation to do that right now.”

Guidry said a crew of 20 cleaned ditches, weed eated and removed debris from canals, starting Aug. 25 and working through the weekend.

Sheriff Mike Tregre said the few panicked calls his office received were from residents on Homewood Place in Reserve, where rising water threatened homes.

Helping others

Several members of the St. John Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team left Thursday morning to help with rescue and recovery operations in Port Arthur, Texas.

Deployed officers Blane Rome Jr., Chris Powell, Blane Rome Sr., Chip Wale, Seth Rome and Michael Whitcomb arrived with the Sheriff’s Office flat boat and airboat.

“I know what we’ve been through and how people helped us,” Tregre said. “You just always want to help another agency, another community that is going through that same thing. Everyone can rest assured knowing the St. John Sheriff’s Office equipment is being well utilized for 14 days in Port Arthur. That is how long they asked us to help.”

Tregre said the deputies are equipped with satellite phones and MREs and recently completed a great deal of water and rescue training.

By Friday, however, Tregre said the team returned because there was no longer a need for search personnel. Local officers are expected to return to help with policing.