The drainage ditch through the middle of Osyka is a longstanding problem.
Torrential rains on Aug. 12 that put much of East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes in Louisiana underwater and displaced much of the population of Crosby also affected Osyka, which could be one more heavy rain away from more damage.
East of Fourth Street, “it’s been bad for a while,” public works employee Larry Arnold said. “It’s washed and we’ve patched it two or three times. We packed with dirt, hay. The water in August took all of that out.”
The scenario repeated east of Third Street. Pointing out a place 15 to 20 feet from the street, Arnold said, “We used bricks and whatever else we could find to fill there. It all got washed out.”
More seriously, a sewer line near the bottom of the ditch was broken and washed out of place between Fourth and Third streets, Arnold said, and other pipes carrying water and gas also cross the ditch.
For part of the ditch’s length, including near Third Street where the washed-out area had been repaired and washed out again, the main sewage line leading to the town lagoon follows the top of the ditch.
“If we have another big flood like we had in August, we’re going to sure enough have a mess,” Arnold said.
East of Highway 51, water rose out of the ditch and covered First Street, went into a house, and knocked out the piers under an addition, requiring the addition to be jacked up.
A wooden fence behind the house was partially damaged, and a barbed-wire fence across the road still has grass hanging on strands several feet about the ground.
At Railroad Street, the rushing waters took out a wooden footbridge.
Nearby, water came within six inches of flooding 203 W. Railroad St.
In the east of town, 145 Richmond St. took on some of the water rushing past on its way to the Tangipahoa River. The south bank of the ditch has eroded to barely six feet from the home’s back steps, while the north bank has eroded closer to the driveway of 141 Richmond St.
“It won’t take much more water (for the erosion) to get to the driveway and be up to” 145 Richmond, Arnold said. Gesturing to an area of soil overhanging the ditch behind 145 Richmond, he added, “One more rain like the one we got, that’ll be gone.”
Town aldermen briefly mentioned possible repairs to the ditch at meetings in July and August, before the torrential rains fell. Plans for an upgrade of the ditch included concrete all the way up both banks, but that never happened, board members said last week.
With the rain damage giving the project more impetus, the board discussed applying for a U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service grant to shore up the ditch.
Norman Patterson, a Department of Agriculture engineer, notified the town that it qualifies for an emergency watershed protection grant totaling $231,650, of which Osyka would be responsible for 25 percent, or $57,912.50.
The proposed project includes some excavation and fill, concrete and grout, rip rap and rebar, which board members agree it needs. Mayor Allen Applewhite, however, recommended that the board postpone consideration of the grant.
“It’s not going to get any better,” Alderman Tommy Kizer said.
Ken Morris and Betty Mullins agreed. “There was a lot of water going through there,” Morris said.
“Angry water,” Mullins added.
“Will it be worth it?” Applewhite said. “It’s not going to be worth it if they just put one foot of concrete ... If they’re going up to five or six feet, I have no problem with that. That’s the best resolve of the issue.”
Arnold backs up the mayor’s thinking.
“It needs to be fixed right, like they originally said,” Arnold said. “It’s going to cost a lot. We need help, a grant, something.”
