Terrebonne homeowners want raising requests honored

Terrebonne Parish officials complemented efforts made to control drainage and flooding from Tropical Storm Lee during the Labor Day weekend. Some residents, however, contend that measures taken to ease water worries in certain areas, left them soaked in deeper distress than had been experienced during previous weather events.

“This is not a drainage canal,” Peggy Johnson of 3306 Sharon St. said of Bayou Terrebonne, which borders her and her neighbors’ homes from Main Street in Houma. “If they wanted this to be a drainage canal they should have made accommodations for that.”

Johnson, who has lived in her home since 1983, and had her house elevated on Aug. 8, confirmed that the area near La. Highway 24 and Prospect Road does have a history of flooding during heavy storms as well as some light showers.

It is not only her property that concerns Johnson. Her neighbors, Andy and Angela Cotton, bought their 2,040-square-foot house, currently valued at $160,000, at 3304 Sharon St. in 2006, and contend they were not informed by the previous owner of flood problems. In turn they are having trouble getting their elevation requests honored.

The Cottons would like to have their home raised, but cannot afford the work and do not qualify for federal assistance based on strict interpretation of requirements.

“We flooded for [Hurricane] Ike [in 2008] now we flooded for this rain storm,” Andy Cotton said. “It’s not good. All the water comes from the front and the back and we got no drainage.”

Andy and Angela Cotton said that with this month’s storm, of which parish officials only officially had five houses reported as having flooded, homes on Sharon Street were not spared from water getting into garages, laundry rooms or at least the base of their foundations.

Johnson confirmed that because of this month’s storm, which surrounded their house and forced worms inside the structure’s walls, her neighbors deserve help in paying for home elevation, although documented history of repeated flooding comes in question for them to qualify for government assistance.

“The [Cottons’] house never flooded until [the parish completed] that drainage project at Roberta Grove,” Johnson said. “Shortly after that, the previous owners, got water in and then [the Cottons] bought this house.”

Johnson said her home has flooded three times, but water levels have increased along with drainage projects in the area and sheeting from the Prospect Bridge construction project that forces an overflow onto her side of Bayou Terrebonne.

“The sheet piling [is part of the problem],” Johnson said. “That water used to be able to lay down 30-feet on the other side of the road. It can’t go there anymore. So, [the sheet piling] just pushes it this way and makes it all lay down on this side.”

“It’s kind of sad,” Andy Cotton said. “We were on the list for the mitigation program. Then they took us off. They put us on and then they took us off again. They made us pay for elevations and land surveys to be lifted. But we don’t know if we really are [approved] and we don’t know what to do.”

“The person [who owned the house] before us flooded, but didn’t make the claim because they wanted to sell,” Angela Cotton said. “On paper we only flooded twice, but really three times.”

Like Johnson, Andy Cotton contends that drainage and construction projects in the area, designed to help other neighborhoods have consequently made a bad situation along Sharon Street worse.

“We’re getting more water and more water,” Andy Cotton said. “This time we got worms in our house. If you ever had to smell worms … they are in our walls and when it gets warm and they start dying in our walls … it’s bad … we are going to have to go and stay in our camper like we did the last storm for six months.”

“They put a culvert at Roberta Grove,” Angela Cotton said. “They put a culvert at the Airport. They don’t have pumps here, so all the water stays here.”

“I walked that neighborhood this weekend after hearing about this,” Terrebonne Parish District 5 Councilman Johnny Pizzolatto said of the area Sunday. Although Sharon Street is currently in District 3, and represented by Billy Hebert, it will soon shift to District 5 with new redistricting lines. “They definitely have a problem.”

Pizzolatto said he was not prepared to offer ideas for solutions from increased flooding along Sharon Street, but encouraged residents to attend Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting and voice their problem at 6 p.m.

“A month before they raised me the water was lapping at the door,” Johnson said. “I’ve flooded three times, but it has been getting worse since we have drainage projects coming in here. We’ve always had flooding problems. But it is getting worse. At least [the parish] could help the people they are flooding raise their houses.”

“[Johnson] said there were 100 houses to be lifted and she was in five of the 100,” Angela Cotton said. “What happened to the rest? All I want to do is get lifted. Just lift us up. That’s all I want to do.”

“I haven’t been involved with this, but, yes, something needs to be done,” Pizzolatto said.

Andy Cotton shows the water level that entered his shed during Tropical Storm Lee. Cotton and his neighbors blame drainage projects flowing into Bayou Terrebonne as making an already flood prone area even worse. MIKE NIXON