On Thursday, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars addressed flooding within the parish caused by torrential rainfall.
In a video posted to the St. Martin Parish Government Facebook Page, Cedars reported that rain had fallen during seven of the last 11 days causing high water issues.
Last week, from May 10 to May16, Cedars says that most areas of the parish received an excess of 10 inches of rain.
On Monday, May 17, the parish received between 4 to 10 inches of rain in the course of a few hours. Some areas saw an excess of 12 inches.
"Every day since Monday we've seen anywhere from three to four inches of rain. All falling very quickly," he said. "We've had an unusual weather pattern seven out of the last eleven days."
Cedars says that flooding within the parish is not a drainage issue.
"I think our surveys reflect that our cities and our parish's infrastructure are performing fairly well considering the amount of rain that they have taken," said Cedars. "The issue is that our major tributaries have just taken on too much water."
Those tributaries, which include places like Bayou Amy, Bayou Teche and the Vermilion River, have taken in more water than they are able to push out.
As a result, Cedars says that laterals can't flow as effectively into those tributaries to dispose of excess water.
Resident are asked to alert St. Martin Parish Government to any major flooding issues or dangers to home, property or roadways.
Any damage should be reported to the Office of Emergency Preparedness at 337-394-2808.
Sand bag locations and no-wake zones are in place currently until flooding subsides. Roadways will be closed if high water makes them impassable.
A State of Emergency was declared in the parish on May 17 to allow citizens to have advantages of individual assistance from the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Cedars asks that residents remain patient as the water begins to recede and flooding subsides.
"Please be patient, please call us, let us know of any hot spots. We're keeping a record of any major flash flood areas. We're also trying to track and survey those areas where we're seeing some back flooding." Cedars said. "Once the rain stops, it still will be a few days before we see the relief we would like to see, but it is on the horizon."
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