Baton Rouge man builds a levee around his house; promptly sued by city

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A longtime resident in Baton Rouge will have to dismantle homemade ring levees he built around his property or face the city-parish removing them and sending a bill. The ongoing fight is spelled out in a court judgment that was signed in favor of Baton Rouge in April.

Ken Guidry owns a sprawling piece of property off Perkins Road between Bluebonnet Boulevard and Siegen Lane, and he's called it home for 35 years. He began to notice flooding concerns about 20 years ago as development ramped up at a rapid pace.

"If it wouldn't be for my levees, an afternoon shower would wash in my house," Guidry said.

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Here's the problem....there were even less controls on development and requirements on finished floor elevation when he build the house in the 1980s. All newer houses around him are built up higher.

So even if they've established a better development plan; his house still exists. He should have the right to protect his non-conforming but perfectly legal home. If he were to build a new house on his land now, they'd require that he build up the house pad to a higher elevation to meet newer standards.

Another issue I see is that his little 1' berm didn't cause any real impact to the water level. You know what did? The city/parish and the state governments ignoring clogged drainage canals and creeks. They are filled with vegetation and debris from the last flood and were never cleaned up.

This is the same bullshite that's going to hit Ascension parish and Livingston parish. Neither of them have learned from the mistakes that East Baton Rouge made decades ago (and is having to deal with now).