Cars push through standing water on Scenic Highway near 70th Ave.,just after 8 a.m. after heavy rains earlier on Friday, July 22, 2022. High water had earlier closed the nearby Harding Blvd. entrance to Southern University's campus, but that entrance reopened a little before 8 a.m.
A woman steps over a puddle near the LSU Student Union, during a light rain that followed earlier ainstorms in Baton Rouge, Friday morning, July 22, 2022.
The State Capitol building is seen, inverted in raindrops on a car window, and in the background, after rainstorms in Baton Rouge, Friday morning, July 22, 2022.
Cars push through standing water on Scenic Highway near 70th Ave.,just after 8 a.m. after heavy rains earlier on Friday, July 22, 2022. High water had earlier closed the nearby Harding Blvd. entrance to Southern University's campus, but that entrance reopened a little before 8 a.m.
A woman steps over a puddle near the LSU Student Union, during a light rain that followed earlier ainstorms in Baton Rouge, Friday morning, July 22, 2022.
The State Capitol building is seen, inverted in raindrops on a car window, and in the background, after rainstorms in Baton Rouge, Friday morning, July 22, 2022.
The city-parish's drainage maintenance work is having its intended effect of reducing flooding, the city-parish declared Friday after an early morning storm dropped 4 inches of rain in some areas.
"We're definitely seeing benefits from the fact we moved 16 million pounds of debris from 60 miles of drainage ways in the past year," city-parish spokesman Mark Armstrong said. "We're seeing the benefits of that, and we'll continue to do that work."
The American Rescue Plan Act-funded work began last June after more than 1,000 houses flooded amid heavy rainfall the month prior. More than $40 million has gone toward the effort to clean out drainage ways, as well as repair damaged catch basins, storm drains and drain pipes that were slowing the flow of rainwater.
Friday's storm rolled into the region around 5 a.m., dropping the heaviest rainfall in the first few hours. Lighter showers continued throughout most of the morning on Friday. Flash flood warnings were in affect throughout the Baton Rouge region, and lightning started a house fire in Central.
A network of amateur weather stations around the region showed that the heaviest rainfall in East Baton Rouge Parish fell in a band between Metro Airport and Central. Gauges from Weather Underground recorded between 3 inches near Hooper and Plank roads and 4.36 inches off of Magnolia Bridge Road.
Southern University's Harding Boulevard entrance closed due to high water but had reopened by 8 a.m. Greenwell Springs Road at Morgan Road was also closed early Friday from high water but reopened soon after, Armstrong said.
"Too much rain at once, and we're seeing that more and more in the summer months, can overpower the drainage system, Armstrong said. "That's why it's always best to stay out of standing water."
Weather Underground data also showed rainfall amounts of generally less than 3 inches in the Coursey Boulevard area, and less than 2 inches in Gardere, the site of a sewage treatment plant that overflowed last year.
That sewage flood in September 2021 was caused by a 100-year rainstorm that caused rainwater to infiltrate and overwhelm the South Wastewater Treatment Plant amid a power outage at one of its pumping stations. Since the incident, the city-parish has bought out homes and apartment complexes bordering the plant grounds to expand its "buffer zone" in the event of future floods.
No incidents were reported at the sewage plant Friday, Armstrong said, although the day's rainfall in the Gardere area did not approach that of September 2021.
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