Storms claimed zero lives in parish

Due to the joint efforts of local law enforcement agencies-first responders, Evangeline Parish 9-1-1, as well as city and village leaders-employees, the historic flood that swept through the parish did not claim anyone’s life.
“I have lived in Ville Platte all my life and I’m never seen a flood like this before,” Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine said. “Thank God there were no fatalities and hopefully no serious illness, but my heart does go out to those people that did get water in their homes and businesses.”
From Friday to Saturday, as much as 20 inches of rain fell on large portions of the parish. That resulted in several businesses, residential areas and even municipality buildings being under water, including both the Ville Platte City Hall and the Chataignier Village Hall.
City and parish firefighters, the Ville Platte Police Department and Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office all were part of rescue efforts throughout the parish. Many a resident were rescued from their homes, some by boats, and taken to the Ville Platte Boys and Girls Club, which was used as a temporary safe house on Saturday.
The Louisiana National Guard arrived on Wednesday to provide rations and supplies to flood victims at the Ville Platte Civic Center. Second Harvest also came later in the day to help pass out meals to needy residents.
Computers have also been set up at the Civic Center for FEMA registration and to register for food stamps, if you have lost food due to the flooding.
As the flood waters rose in the area, the dispatchers at Evangeline Parish 9-1-1 were receiving call after call from citizens in dire need of assistance.
“We got a lot of calls about flooding and stranded motorists,” 911-Office of Emergency Preparedness Director Liz Hill said. “The sheriff’s office did a great job of patrolling the roads and they got the Evangeline Parish Police Jury to place barricades on the parish roads and DOTD barricades on the state highways.
“A lot of the stranded motorists were people who ignored the barricades and high water. The barricades are there for your safety. You are putting your life in danger and the lives of those first responders in danger when you ignore them.”
As the waters slowly recede, Hill and her office began the process of getting the parish declared for federal disaster relief by combining information from residents for a damage assessment. The parish received that distinction on Tuesday afternoon.
For those residents who experienced flood damage please call (337) 363-3267 to provide that needed information. Residents may also pick up a form at the Ville Platte City Hall drive-thru and by accessing Evangeline Parish 9-1-1’s Facebook page.
Ville Platte City Councilman Mike Perron is also asking for residents to please keep the city’s canals clean of any storm debris or water damaged materials from houses, such as water-logged drywall, paneling, carpet, couches, television sets, washing machines, etc.
The city has had a problem with illegal dumping but with city and parish crews working tirelessly to clean up the streets, forcing them to spend time removing debris from a canal, which may cause additional flooding due to blockage, is time that could be spent on cleaning up the area.
“I always check on my guys and when I saw the debris in the canal the other day I couldn’t believe it,” Perron said. “That particular canal drains towards the street. Every year people dump stuff in there and it slows the drainage down which could cause even more flooding.”
The mayor’s office confirmed that there will be dumpsters placed at the far corner of the Northside Civic Center so residents can place flood-damaged items there until a dump site in the parish is officially opened up.
The Evangeline Parish School Board also confirmed to The Gazette on Monday that four parish schools (Chataignier Elementary, Mamou Elementary, Mamou High School and James Stephens Montessori) experienced minor damage from all the flooding. All parish public schools, as well as Sacred Heart School, were closed on Monday due to the flooding.
EPSB Superintendent Toni Hamlin asked for parents of students to please be patient during this time.
“The crews have been working since Sunday to get everything ready for schools to reopen,” Hamlin said. “However there may be roads in the parish that buses can not go down and if that is the case those kids will be excused from school. We are just asking for parents to please be patient with transportation.”
Even though the parish experienced the worst flooding in a hundred years, and many a resident suffered damage to their homes and had personal items washed away in the flood, there were still no deaths due to the destructive natural disaster and that is something to be grateful for.
“All in all, the good people in Ville Platte and all of Evangeline Parish helped us by staying off the streets and staying safe this past weekend,” Vidrine said. “This could have been so much worse.”