In July, the city of New Orleans cleared ditches along Deanne Street to address flooding, but one homeowner says the effort has made the problem worse.
“This isn’t the first time that the ditches have been cleared like this, and it’s not solving the problem. It’s just making a problem worse,” said Michael Carter, a homeowner on Deanne Street.
Carter explained that the water still has nowhere to go, saying, “The water can’t go nowhere.”
Back in July, road reconstruction was underway on nearly every street connected to Deanne Street to address road conditions and flooding. The city’s solution was to clear the ditches, but Carter believes the larger issue lies in the original design flaw.
“The driveway is illegally extended into the street. It’s blocking the flow of water from going down the ditches to the catch basin on the corner.”
Carter says homes farther down have a proper driveway-to-street connection that allows for drainage, and simply clearing ditches is inadequate.
“All they did was come out and dig the ditches out and made them deep to hold water, which is a mosquito hazard because it’s water sitting here for weeks at a time,” said Carter.
As a veteran, Carter expressed frustration with how his tax dollars are being spent.
“It needs to be reconstructed, not put a Band-Aid on it like you did before. Any problem — again, I mean, is that too much to ask for taxpaying citizens, people that are paying for sewage and drainage and garbage? Yeah, we’re not getting our money’s worth. Please help us with our street,” said Carter.
The Department of Public Works said the ditches need to be reestablished and several driveway culverts will need to be jetted out. They also stated that the basins are clear and the manhole holds water, which indicates the blockage is farther down the line in the system. The department is continuing to investigate the issue.
READ MORE:New Orleans homeowner says ditch clearing worsened flooding on Deanne Street
