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City working through ever-growing list of drainage repairs, homeowner waiting months for sinkhole fix

11 months 1 week 9 hours ago Monday, December 18 2023 Dec 18, 2023 December 18, 2023 7:24 PM December 18, 2023 in News
Source: WBRZ

UPDATE: This sinkhole was eventually repaired by the City-Parish at the end of February.

BATON ROUGE - A sinkhole has caused all kinds of problems for one man who just wants his front yard back.

Matt Barrow lives on Gibbens Road just north of Baton Rouge Metro Airport. All he wants to know is when the hole in his front yard will be repaired, but is having trouble getting an answer from the City-Parish. He called 2 On Your Side looking for an answer.

"Who wants a big, old, giant-sized hole sitting in the middle of their yard?" Barrow asked.

Yet, that's what he's been stuck with for the better part of a year. His family had no idea it was there until his sister backed into the hole. Then, his son's car got stuck.

"We had to get a wrecker to get him out," Barrow said.

That was at the beginning of 2023. Noticing the hole was around a storm drain, he called the City-Parish and someone came out to take a look. The parish ran some tests, put up orange mesh fencing around the hole and gave Barrow a run-down on repairs.

"I talked to the supervisor, he said six months. I thought that was a little bit long being where it is," Barrow said.

He's been calling the City-Parish each month for an update on when the repairs will be made but has yet to receive a date. It's why he called 2 On Your Side.

"You know, I just want this hole fixed and my grass growing again and everything to be right," Barrow said.

The parish has about 1,800 open drainage, erosion, flooding and hole 311 requests from the past 365 days. One of them is Barrow's. The city is working through a long list of drainage projects that are being repaired with American Rescue dollars. Many of those have been completed.

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