ACADIA PARISH — A ditch lining North Riceland Road in Mire has become congested with debris, and when heavy rain falls, the area floods — impacting residents, drivers and farmers working the land.
Stacey Ancelet, a farmer in the area, said the flooding is hitting both rice and crawfish operations hard.
"It's so much rain comes at one time, and it does affect the crops. It affects the crawfish. It was blowing crawfish levees out because it came up so fast and [with] so much pressure," Ancelet stated. "It's affected all the way around."
Rice fields are supposed to have blades standing straight up, but when heavy rainfall hits and water sits, crops get flattened.
Acadia Parish Police Jury President Beau Petitjean said the gully along North Riceland Road is not an isolated problem — there are more like it across the parish. He said funding from the federal government, the state, and the governor is now in place to address them.
"The federal government, the state, and our governor allocated some money for us to actually clean up what you see behind me in the whole of Acadia Parish," Ancelet said. "So that's the main plan: to get these gullies cleaned up with the drainage board of Ward One. And then circle around and maintain them without an area not being seen for 2 to 3 years because we're not on a work order and a maintenance plan, and that's what you're going to see."
The Police Jury is hoping to start clearing the debris within a week or so. Petitjean said the long-term focus after the cleanup will be on maintenance.
