ST. MARY PARISH — As hurricane season gets underway, some Bayou Vista residents say they are growing increasingly frustrated with flooding issues they believe have gone unaddressed for years.
Among them is Andree Hebert, who has lived in the community since 2012. Hebert said flooding has become more than an occasional inconvenience and believes the area's drainage system is no longer functioning as intended.
“I know that our area was designed with the intention of the streets retaining water until the systems could pump it out, all good until that’s not happening anymore,” Hebert said adding that it's become a familiar sight in the community.
She also questioned whether Bayou Vista's concerns have received enough attention from local leaders.
“I don't think that our leadership has paid a whole lot of attention to the needs of Bayou Vista," Hebert said.
St. Mary Parish President Sam Jones acknowledged the long-running concerns surrounding drainage and water flow in the area. Jones pointed to efforts he said he made years ago while serving in the Louisiana House of Representatives to secure funding for water management projects.
“I offered to spend a million and a half dollars on water flow, the parish council rejected it, 25% match. Well let me go and try to get to 15%, ‘we don’t need that we don't need that’ ,I said one day you’re going to need that,” Jones said.
Today, Jones said Bayou Vista is included in the parish's flood mitigation plans. While much of the current focus remains on pumping station improvements in Morgan City following Hurricane Francine, he said parish officials are beginning to evaluate potential solutions for Bayou Vista as well.
According to Jones, engineers are currently assessing the area and identifying projects that could improve drainage and reduce flood risks. He said funding for that planning process is included in this year's parish budget.
“Once Bayou Vista has been scoped out and plans are finished, we could start doing it,” Jones said.
However, residents hoping for immediate relief may still have to wait before construction begins.
“The better part of a year and it may take less than that, it just depend on how they read it and what needs to be done,” Jones said.
Hebert says regardless of the timeline, she remains focused on seeing progress not only in Bayou Vista but across St. Mary Parish.
“How do we move forward to see progress for Bayou Vista, for Morgan City, for St.Mary Parish as a whole,” Hebert said.
For residents like Hebert, the question is no longer whether flooding is a problem. Instead, they are looking for a clearer path forward and signs that long-discussed improvements are moving closer to reality.
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