NBR’s Quiet Devastation

In August 2016, the capital area experienced a 1,000-year flood that inundated more than 59,000 homes in East Baton Rouge Parish. Most of the news coverage of the event focused on the devastation in Central and in Livingston and Ascension parishes.
Getting far less attention was the historic flooding which also hit areas of North Baton Rouge and Southeast Baton Rouge in the proposed City of St. George.
In the Istrouma area near the intersection of North Foster Drive and Winbourne Avenue, the flooding was as bad or worst than any area of Central or Livingston. Most houses received from four to six feet of water, and virtually every house in some neighborhoods flooded.
Now eight weeks after the flood, piles of rubble still line the streets around North Foster and Winbourne, and little progress had been made. On some streets, less than 20 percent of the houses have their electricity turned on.
Help has been slow in coming, especially since a large number of houses were rental units, for which no help is available from FEMA. There is a danger that many homes will not be repaired and will stand empty until eventually they are condemned and have to be demolished.
At night, the neighborhood is quiet and dark.