Support the Altomare family recover from flooding.

Our family,

Nick, Lauren, Lilly, Liam, and Riley are in a difficult situation. Our home has flooded again less than a year from the last one. Let us explain.

Nick medically retired from the Army in early 2022 and in May we purchased our first home in Lauren's hometown. We were so excited about owning our first home and no longer renting at military installations. (if you know you know) but from the start it has been a nightmare. At first, we experienced the "normal' home issues. Things like dead trees, busted pipes, new paint, upgraded windows, etc. We were in a drought for the first year or so and we didn't experience any flooding at first. Once it started raining again, we noticed the yard holding water and getting close to our door. So, we added gutters and considered French drains thinking we could direct the little water toward public drains. We had our first real flood almost a year ago. Just over 5 inches fell that day and we had an inch in the house. Some of our chickens drowned that day to. We didn't have flood insurance that time because we are located in flood zone X and in fact, we were nowhere near a flood zone. It wasn't something we thought we needed. Our floor, cabinets, drywall, and some belongings had to be tossed and replaced on our own dime. Some of which we had to finance. It was really hard, but we had a little saved, so we got through it. While making repairs we had a little water intrude July 25th, 2024 . Luckily, it didn't do much damage since we were in the middle of repairs.

We decided to speak to our neighbors and that's when we learned the real history of our property. That it has flooded many many times over the years. We even got in touch with an old owner of the home. We learned the area started to get built up and the start of a road was put in. The owner of the home at the time had begun to experience some water coming up to the house and a little inside. So he had reached out to his police juror then and the head of the parish drainage and public works to work out a solution. None was made. Fast forward to the early 2000s and a tragic accident prompted the parish to close the deep ditches and put in the drainage we see today. Thats when things got worse. That family fought to have the drains redone because they knew they were done incorrectly. The owner had some experience with these things and made suggestions on how to fix it. Again, nothing was done. They lived with tile and their belongings up on bricks for years until the owner moved away and passed.

We have reached out to our police juror, the old police juror (the one the previous owner spoke to), the head of the Drainage and Public Works dept, and a few folks at the Division of Engineering, others, and with their prompting someone who could help with a grant. We wanted a solution. We wanted them to fix the drains which these individuals admitted were done incorrectly. One told us, " You shouldn't have bought a home in a flood zone". Which we had to argue and show that we are NOT in one. We bought in flood zone X because it wasn't something we wanted to take on as first-time homeowners and a young family. Public works have come out to clean the drains along the road and on the road behind us which has not helped. We had a engineer come out and confirm some of what was wrong with them and they explained that our property is essentially a retention pond for the neighborhood. Water flows to our property and sits until it naturally is absorbed or the drainage system behind us kicks in for the excess. The drains were also put in way too high. Water has to get almost a foot high until anything starts to trickle out. The parish sent their engineers out who confirm these finding and from our understanding tried to come up with a solution. It was found to be too expensive of a project, and they would not be going forward with it and cannot for many years. They will be redoing the drainage behind us though. We asked if doing that would help us "some" and they said no. We then applied for a grant. The problem is that this is a very long process, and the drainage is still not fixed. We were required to also get flood insurance, keep up with repairs, and encouraged to keep adding value to the home which is what you normally would do owning a home anyway. We fixed our home and even upgraded some things. We dug ditches. Moved fences (and raised them) We got sandbags and bought more to try to prevent more damage with each rain.

Less than a year later we took in water again on May 6th, 2025. We had just finished our floor. This time it was somehow worse, and water came pouring in from our bedrooms first, then the front of the house, and finally from the back. Our septic tank started backing up this time to. We are still waiting for news of this grant but if it is awarded, we still have to fix this mess. The house has to be repaired. We have to still live here and our children deserve a safe home. Yesterday, we were blessed by a local church organization who helped us clean up and dry out. Now we are waiting for insurance and trying to figure out what we can do to not have these losses again and again. We are picking bricks up out of a pile we found and putting our furniture up on them permanently like the late owners did.

We need to pay off the floor we had to finance the last flood and want to upgrade to tile flooring throughout the home, so we don't have to keep ripping it up every time. We need help with our deductibles as well. We have put so much into this home that we have nothing left. Our family is at a loss at what else to do and its heartbreaking. We had just started to feel at home here, happy, and have done a lot to make this into a home. We are in desperate need.

The Altomare family.