Residents in East Baton Rouge Parish are preparing for a tropical system after some areas experienced flooding on Tuesday. Along Zerlee Street in Scotlandville, Patricia Ann Smith’s front yard was covered in water.

Smith said, ‘I don’t know what type of weather that was that came through and swooped up on us like that. It was horrible. I was scared, I was pleading Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.’

Preparations Underway

In Zachary, city officials are using drone footage to determine potential areas for flooding. Mayor David McDavid says they have several areas of concern. ‘We brought our drone from the fire department to put it on the Old Baker Road area, and we started looking. We already got some water in yards right now, and like I said, the ditches and canals are full, and we’re looking to see where the problems could be at right now,’ McDavid said.

One of those yards with water is Jessie Wilkinson’s. He says he’s been moving items in his yard to more elevated areas, in the case of more flooding. ‘We’re just going to end up parking down the street and hope for the best. I got my boat back there. If we need to get out of here, we have done that before. I bought motors and all to ride around here, that’s how deep it gets,’ Wilkinson said.

McDavid says they are expecting some significant impacts from the weather overnight. ‘We’ve done a good job on drainage. We’ve worked in different areas, where we’ve had problems with drainage, trying to get it out of there. Unfortunately, the diversion canal is holding some of that up right now, like I said, we’re here for solutions, we’re not pointing fingers, and we’re going to continue working hard to make sure people stay dry and safe,’ McDavid said.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.