Jefferson Parish sees some street flooding, but no damage from wet ...

Hopefully, the worst is over. But we're not going to lower our guard now." -- Jefferson Parish President John Young.

Street flooding affected pats of Elmwood and other areas in Jefferson Parish Thursday, but officials said there were no reports of damage from more than two inches of rain that fell by early afternoon. A respite in the rain across much of the parish was giving pump stations time to lower water levels in drainage canals, in preparation for more rough weather expected tonight.

Parish President John Young said public work crews remained on alert and officials would continue to monitor potential flooding through the weekend, as a slow-moving storm system over Texas and Oklahoma will continue to affect the area. Jefferson Parish and most of Southeast Louisiana remained in a flash flood watch through Thursday, and the National Weather Service said rain would remain for the rest of the day and tonight, with heavy thunderstorms possible.

Young said emergency personnel temporarily alerted low vehicles to avoid standing water in the area near Jefferson Highway and Plantation Road in Elmwood, and that other areas across the parish also had temporary street flooding as a strong band of thunderstorms passed over the area earlier in the day. But parish pumps had drained canals ahead of the storm, and were running at full capacity to get the system ready for more rain.

"Hopefully, the worst is over. But we're not going to lower our guard now," Young said. "We're going to continue to be proactive."

The parish's drainage system is designed to be able to drain 1 inch of rain during the first hour, and ? inch every hour thereafter.

Young said the parish had a dozen vacuum trucks and Public Works crews ready to trouble-shoot areas where clogged basins may cause flooding or to barricade flooded streets. So far the parish had not needed to use the vacuum trucks, he said.

But he asked residents to take advantage of a slowdown in the rain this afternoon to clean up catch basins near their homes.

Officials also asked residents to report flooding to the Public Works department, at 504.736.6753, or after hours at 504.736.6006. Residents can also sign up to receive the parish's emergency alerts via e-mail or cell phone, by visiting the system's web page, JPAlert.com.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said some vehicles had taken water in Elmwood. Parish officials said they alerted motorists to avoid the area and no vehicles flooded.?

Source: http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2013/01/jefferson_parish_motorists_flo.html

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