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Residents, street crew debate responsibility after heavy rain floods yards and streets
Summary
Crowley officials and residents discussed recent heavy rainfall, blocked culverts and ditches, and who is responsible for clearing them after community members said yards and streets flooded; city staff described capacity limits and a plan to inspect problem sites.
City officials and residents traded complaints and explanations Thursday over neighborhood flooding after a recent heavy rain, with residents urging faster cleanup of clogged ditches and city staff saying some clearing falls on private property and regional drainage channels are outside city control.
The dispute centered on West Sixth Street and other West Crowley neighborhoods where residents said standing water, trash in culverts and overgrown ditches have caused repeated flooding. Resident Sandra Handy said the problem has worsened in the past six years and that she had repeatedly reported the location: “The ditches need to be cleaned out. The drains need to be… the ditches need to be cleaned out. And nobody doing it,” she said.
City staff and the street commissioner responded that the problem has multiple causes and limits on city capacity. Street commissioner Wesley Jacob said he and crews have been digging and clearing ditches since taking the position: “In 1 year, I have dug more ditches than they did in 20 years,” Jacob said, adding that the city lacks the manpower to clear every private ditch and culvert immediately.
Mayor (name not specified) told residents the city has inspected the major outfalls and is documenting clogged culverts to share with the parish drainage board and state where appropriate. “There is no ditch that we can dig in this city that would have prevented the water from getting on the roadways… There’s no drainage system designed to take on that much water,” the mayor said.
Public works and wastewater staff described the scale of the storm and operational impacts. Wastewater superintendent Tim Crater reported wide inflow: “We’ve taken in better than 12,000,000 gallons,” and said rainfall totals across the city ranged “anywhere between 6 and 9 inches, depends where you were.” City staff said cleaning culverts and digging ditches can reduce repeat flooding but that some drainage channels and bayous are under parish or state jurisdiction, not the city’s.
Officials and residents agreed to follow up on specific addresses. The mayor asked the street commissioner to inspect 1212 West Sixth Street after Sandra Handy identified that location; Jacob agreed to visit the site the next day. Mayor and staff said they will document work orders and take photographs to present to the drainage board when outside jurisdictions are implicated.
Officials also noted limits created when a culvert or ditch is clogged by decades of trash. “Cleaning the ditches of grass and trash is the property owner’s responsibility,” the mayor said, while also acknowledging the city has cleaned culverts on a case-by-case basis when the blockage is within city infrastructure.
The meeting record shows multiple residents promised to follow up with council members or staff; staff pledged additional inspections and photo documentation to support requests to higher jurisdictions. The city did not set a formal timeline for repairs during the meeting.
