Residents in Dominion Ranch off of Aero Drive in Port Arthur said their subdivision will flood with a light rain. It really floods with a deluge.

Some residents attended the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council Tuesday night to share their concerns and see action fixing the problem.

Jenna Dean and Troy Devillier said that, during the flooding from Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey, debris left from Cormier Homes, the sole contractor permitted by the city of Port Arthur to build homes there, was clogging up drains and causing the flooding. They said city ordinances aren’t being regularly enforced that require builders to maintain control of construction debris. The contractor is also not practicing the best management practices, she said.

Devillier referred the Council to Chapter 42 and Chapter 93 of the code of ordinances on flooding and stormwater quality.

For instance, unanchored hay bales were used as spill barriers for new construction. The bales would break apart when it rained and would go into the drainage. The residents believe this can be easily avoided by proper code enforcement.

A presentation with a photographic timeline revealed debris floating around the neighborhood for several days after Harvey. A resident who lived there used his pump to move water.

“This is something the city could had done,” they said.

Debris, however, was left in the streets after the water receded and headed for the drains.

Their timeline reveals:

• The city failed to notify the Federal Emergency Management Agency the subdivision was waiting on grappling trucks and were procured by a Dominion Ranch resident.
• Though they were told city pumps were running during the rain event of Jan. 27, 2018, a city employee had to turn on the sewer lift pumps to drain the water.
• One city vaccum truck only stayed a little more than an hour in March to flush manhole covers. Crews lifted manhole covers, looked inside and left.
• Lastly, on March 25, a supervisor with public works who remained unnamed said the cleaning of the drains was 100 percent complete, but residents said they still found debris when they inspected.

“We never asked for preferential treatment or we be put ahead of others,” Dean said. “However, the city should not ignore us and work together to come up with a workable solution in a reasonable timeline with a path going forward before the beginning of hurricane season (which starts June 1).”

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, represents Dominion Ranch. He said his district was hit the hardest in the city, particularly Vista Village where many residents have not returned home. He added that District 4 is susceptible to flooding and he didn’t want to minimize other areas.

The city will try to get things right as soon as possible, he said.

He said equipment is limited because much of it was lost during Harvey and it’s difficult to get to all the areas at one time.

He told the Dominion Ranch residents they weren’t the only subdivision with problems and he would visit with them there very soon.

Dean reiterated they weren’t asking for special treatment.

Osman Swati, District 6 councilman, apologized to the Dominion Ranch residents.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman, recently visited the subdivision and said it’s unacceptable what happened there.