Public Works Department assessing cause of heavy flooding in Houma Heights

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June 24, 2020
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June 24, 2020
Severe Thunderstorm Warning in effect for Terrebonne Parish
June 24, 2020
Racially charged debate ensues on the House floor over a task force on policing, removing George Floyd’s name from resolution
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The Terrebonne Parish Public Works Department is in the process of examining the exact cause of heavy flooding in the Houma Heights subdivision near Sylvia St. as a result of this morning’s heavy rainfall. 


 

Public Works Director David Rome said the core of the rain began on the lower part of the west side of Houma and went across the Intracoastal Waterway into the Houma Heights subdivision.

 

“I still have boots on the ground out there to find out what exactly occurred. We do know that we received a significant amount of rain in a very short period of time beginning about 7 o’clock this morning and going through about 9-9:30 over in that area,” Rome said.

 

District 5 Councilwoman Jessica Domangue said that she spent the majority of the day inspecting the area with Fire Chief Keith Ward and Director of Public Safety Steve Ponville to assess the situation.


 

“We’ve been in contact with David Rome. We’ve been in contact with Parish President Dove, and so it’s definitely something we’re looking into and seeing exactly what happened,” Domangue said.

 

Rome said the Houma Heights area has not seen this significant of a volume of water in recent memory. 

 

The Public Works Department has implemented various drainage improvements in the area over the last 10 years that included the addition of reservoirs and the replacement of subsurface drainage, Rome said. 


 

“They added some retention ponds off of Grand Caillou Rd. at the front of Sylvia St. in order to retain the water to allow it to flow out more naturally over time. We also did an inspection of some…really big culverts that are underneath the ground that actually run underneath some houses…about two-to-three hundred feet off of Sylvia St. to the south. That was done probably about five or six years ago, and then about two years ago, we did a replacement of the subsurface drainage along Sylvia St. and installed new, larger culverts to help the water flow out,” Rome said. 

 

Rome said such projects “significantly improved” the drainage in the area, which is why the Public Works Department is still looking into the issue behind today’s flooding. 

 

The drainage in Houma Heights is gravity drainage, so pump failure could not be the cause of the flooding. 


 

What generally causes such flooding is a significant amount of rain in a short period of time, and there is not much that can be done to prepare for such an influx of water, Rome said. 

 

However, he said the department wants to explore all of its avenues to ensure that no infrastructure failure occurred. 

 

“We’re still working on checking everything to make sure there [were] no collapses or any failures at that point,” Rome said. 


 

Domangue said she is hoping the TPCG can work to find a solution to prevent such unexpected flooding from happening. 

 

“Quite possibly we need to do some more forced drainage or maybe put some more pumps in in that area to pump that water out,” Domangue said.