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VIDALIA, La. — When Concordia Parish gets two to four inches of rain in less than 24 hours, flooding is inevitable.

That is what officials had to say to a concerned resident who said four nights in the last two months, her property was under a foot of water.

The resident, Susan Johnston, addressed the Concordia Parish Police Jury during its Monday meeting regarding flooding in the parish from Highway 84 to the Crooked Bayou and all roads in between.

“It’s Moose Lodge, Sage, BJ, Stevens and Young roads,” she said. “Four times in eight weeks we’ve had over a foot of water in our yard, across our garden and it stayed there for over 18 hours. … Things need to change. … I’ve had two strokes and a heart attack. Had something happened to me one of those four nights, the ambulance couldn’t have gotten to me. They’d have to wade in water to get to me. We’ve got a real problem.”

Johnston said the roads flooded because the parish has not kept up with cleaning out the ditches in the parish, and when it is cleaned, grass and debris get piled up on the edge of the road, only to wash back into them.

However, District 5B police juror Red Tiffee said no matter how clean or not the drainage ditches are, if the parish gets over four inches of rain as it had in recent weeks, “There is nowhere for the water to go. … When it rains like that, the water can’t get out of here.”

Road Superintendent Tony Guillory said for the past week or so, crews have been digging out and cleaning a ditch near those neighborhoods.

“We’ve been doing that for almost a week now. We’ve been down there cleaning that big canal all down the side down to Highway 18 and all the way back up to Airport Road,” he said. “It’s going to help a lot of that.”

In other matters on Monday, the Concordia Parish Police Jury approved alcoholic beverage permits for Dockrockers in Ferriday and Monterey Food Mart in Monterey.

The police jury also adopted a new work schedule for courthouse employees, who will work from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Fridays. However, officials clarified that the courthouse and police jury offices will still be open for normal hours, which are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“People will still be able to call our office after noon on Fridays and I will answer,” said Police Jury Secretary Ariella Carter.