Rising water

It didn’t just rain last weekend in Evangeline Parish, it poured.
For the second time in nine months, residents faced a massive amount of flooding that forced road and school closures parish wide. Much like the August 2016 flood, many residents stretching from the northern part of the parish to the most southern also experienced water in their homes.
The rainfall, which began in the early morning hours of April 30, 2017 and ceased just before 8:00 a.m., unloaded as much as 11 inches of water in areas of the parish such as the Town of Mamou.
According to the town’s mayor Ricky Fontenot, groups from the American Red Cross, North Baptist Church in Eunice, United Way, Our Savior Church in Eunice, Sanctuary of Praise in Mamou, and St. Anne Catholic Church in Mamou came to assist in a clean up effort across Mamou the day after the torrential downpour.
Fontenot said, “I am just so thankful to those who reached out to help our people in Mamou.”
Schools that received water included Mamou Elementary, James Stephens Montessori and Mamou High School.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s rainfall wasn’t the last to come for Evangeline Parish, and the Town of Mamou began preparing early.
Fontenot said, “We began giving sandbags out on Tuesday to prepare for the rain today (Wednesday), and the Mayor of Ville Platte and I have already been coordinating together during this to try and help each other’s communities.”
Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at around 9:00 a.m. storms that were expected to cause more flooding in the parish began to roll in which forced all Evangeline Parish public and private school to close down early.
By noon on Wednesday, Fontenot stated that the canals were already full of water in Mamou with no where to drain.
Fontenot said, “At this point, we just have to put it in God’s hands.”
According to Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine during these times it is important for people to “not travel.”
The mayor also said, “If you are going to travel, please respect the barricades. When people drive through the areas with barricades it pushes water into people’s houses. It is illegal to ignore the barricades and our officers will be issuing tickets if they see anyone doing this.”
Vidrine also urged individuals to make sure and keep children and the elderly protected from this weather.
The mayor said, “Keep your sha babies out of high water, and make sure to take care of those who have taken care of us by keeping the elderly safe.”
On Wednesday, the mayor also said that power outages were expected to occur during the night so she asked that residents be prepared.
A form may be filled out by people who experienced flooding from these recent storms if you would like help in receiving FEMA assistance.
Anyone interested in filling out a form may contact the Evangeline Parish 911/OEP office at (337) 363-3267 or you can print the form from their Facebook page and return it to their offices located at 1188 Vocational Drive.