Heavy rains in Lake Charles flooded portions of Councilwoman Mary Morris’ district earlier this week. At Tuesday’s council agenda meeting, the councilwoman presented images of the flooding and discussed how the issue is affecting local residents. The images show flooded areas near Interstate 10, including a car stuck in a flooded street with water above its tires.

“What I would like to do is get a meeting set up so we could invite the parish and the state to see if we can find a way to look at this. This is a safety issue,” Morris said. “They had to rescue the people from this vehicle and this happens all the time. Every time it rains, it’s the same thing over and over again. We’ve had about five or six vehicles to do this and each time they had to pull them out.”

Morris said heavy rains have also been known to trap residents south of Opelousas Street in their homes.

“Opelousas Street floods and the people south of Opelousas Street, they have no exit because they can’t get out either way,” Morris said. “They have no exit in the area and Opelousas Street is not an avenue for them to get out because it’s flooded. The community is held hostage by high water.”

Deferred agenda items

August has requested an amendment be made to the council’s rules and regulations for regular meetings focused on when the items being deferred at a meeting would be listed to the public in attendance.

“I’ve noticed there are people who come to address a certain item and sometimes it’s almost the last thing on the agenda,” August said. “So, to give them an option if they want to remain for the meeting or just leave, I’m suggesting that when we approve the minutes, we also list the items that are going to be deferred so that these people can leave. We just want to be consistent and accommodating to the people.”

(MGNonline)