DRAINAGE IN THE MODERN FARMS AREA
UPDATE: August 2016
The Parish has begun installing much larger drain pipes under the railroad tracks at the Manor Lane ditch and hopefully, this will help rectify our drainage problems. The Parish says they still have plans for larger drains under the tracks at crawfish ditch and to dig a ditch linking Willswood with these new drains.
Storm drainage in the Modern Farms area has become quite a problem for everyone in the area even though this area has some of the highest elevations in Jefferson Parish. Even though our area is much higher than the surrounding areas, we are in a bowl because we are surrounded by man made levees. We have the Mississippi River levee on one side and railroad tracks forming a levee on another side and Willswood Lane forms a levee on another side and the only place that water can escape from this area is through a 4 foot culvert that goes under the railroad tracks close to Modern Farms Road. This culvert was originally designed to handle the drainage for the homes built on Modern Farms but many new homes and subdivisions have been allowed to be built in the area and have not been required to add additional culverts under the railroad tracks to handle the additional water run-off that they created. This has allowed the culvert and drain ditches that drain the water from Modern Farms to become severely overtaxed and unable to handle the volume and to back up into the neighborhood in anything other than a very light rain. Thus when we had a tropical storm a couple of years ago the flooding was so severe that it flooded much of the area including some homes. The ground became so waterlogged that many of us could not even mow our lawns for a couple of months after the water receded because our lawn tractors would get stuck, and this in areas that were not even covered by water. (See Map 2) Since that storm a couple of years ago, two new subdivisions have been partially built in the area and neither has been required to add additional drainage to the area. As more and more homes are built in the new subdivisions on Latigue and on Willswood and the River Road, there is more and more water runoff trying to go through the already overloaded culvert by Modern Farms creating more and more flooding in the area with each rainfall. If another tropical storm identical to the one we had a couple of years ago, were to strike us today, many more homes in the area would be flooded than were flooded at that time and it will get worse with every additional concrete slab that is poured and with each additional driveway and sidewalk that is built and with every lot that is filled. And to make matters worse, the Jefferson Parish Planning Department is still planning to dig ditches to drain the new, higher subdivision on Willswood through the same culvert that is now unable to properly drain the older, lower subdivision around Modern Farms. If this is allowed to happen, then flooding around Modern Farms will increase dramatically. The culvert by Modern Farms is presently draining about 200 acres during a normal rainfall and the 200 acres by Willswood is being drained into retention canals along the side and rear of this tract of land. Before any homes were built on Willswood, these retention canals provided adequate drainage for this 200 acres because it was all open land that was able to absorb most of the rainfall. But since much of this property has been filled and raised and areas are concreted creating runoff, these retention canals can no longer handle the runoff and excess water is working its way downhill to the area around the Modern Farms culvert. If these retention canals are drained into the culvert by Modern Farms it will turn the whole Southern side of the Modern Farms area including Manor Lane into a large retention pond during every hard rain.The solution to this problem has already been presented by several engineers who note that the retention canals lead to an area across the railroad tracks from Crawfish Ditch which flows across Live Oak Blvd. and into drainage canals. All that is required is to install a 5 foot culvert under the railroad tracks, where the old culvert used to be, even with Crawfish Ditch and clean out and widen Crawfish Ditch and the canal it drains into. This would alleviate the present drainage problem. Naturally, if the other 150 acres of this tract is developed in the future, another 5 foot culvert would need to be placed under the tracks and Crawfish Ditch and it's tributary would have to be widened again.
We must encourage our Planning Department to abandon the patch-work idea of draining the Willswood area into the Modern Farms culvert by running a ditch from Willswood to Modern Farms and we must promote the idea of installing a culvert under the tracks by Crawfish Ditch and cleaning out and widening this important drainage canal and then linking the ditch on the River Road to this drainage system so that the River Road will never again flood.
The Blue lines are present drainage ditches and Retention Canals and the culvert under the tracks by Modern Farms. The Red line is where a culvert must be placed to drain the Willswood area into Crawfish Ditch. The Green Line is the ditch the Jefferson Parish Planning Department wants to dig to drain the Willswood area into the Modern Farms area.
The Blue area is the area that was under water after our last tropical storm 2 years ago. The Yellow area is New Subdivisions built since the tropical storm which will cause a much larger area to flood after the next similar storm.
QUESTION: Why does the Parish want to dig a ditch to the Modern Farms culvert to drain the Willswood area instead of putting a culvert under the tracks?
ANSWER: Money. It is cheaper to dig the ditch than to install a culvert.
QUESTION: If the Modern Farms subdivision had to have a culvert under the tracks to drain their area before they could build, why are the other subdivisions allowed to build and not be required to have additional culverts to drain their areas.
ANSWER: ???? I don't know the answer. Please ask the Jefferson Parish Planning Department or your Councilman.