NEW ORLEANS -- It has been six days since the last heavy rain in New Orleans and the 9500 block of Old Gentilly Road in the East is still covered in water.
Kevin Pallazo works at the nearby Southern Intermodal Freight Yard.
"After a heavy storm, the water just backs up into the street and it takes 4-to-5 days before it comes down to a passable level," Palazzo said. "It's a bit ridiculous that we have to put up with this."
Drivers complain the drainage problems are chronic and frustrating.
"If it's not flooding, you've got to dodge the potholes," Charles Pulham said. "If you can't see the potholes, you're going to hit a pothole and tear up your tires, tear you're vehicles up, so it's a bad problem."
"I've seen cars go off in a ditch because they can't find their way," truck driver Jerry Jackson said. "They don't know where the road is and where the ditch is, you know."
Even tractor trailers have problems in the water. That's bad for business for Southern Intermodal where 200 trucks a day come and go.
"As the trucks go through and the water gets sucked up into the motors and the engines, we've had computer issues with the trucks, we've had starter issues with the trucks because it's going through heavy water," Palazzo said. "It's something they're not supposed to do."
Neighbors said the Sewerage and Water Board did check out a problem on Old Gentilly last year. They also said a crew dug a hole in the road, put out some barrels and never came back."
"If they can fix it, it would be nice," Pulham said.
For now, drivers will have to continue to proceed with caution as they navigate Old Gentilly Road.
City spokesman Craig Belden released this statement: "The drainage mechanism along Old Gentilly Road in New Orleans East is a drainage ditch that leads to canals. After heavy rains, the ditch overflows and dries out as the weather permits. The Department of Public Works will send out a crew on Monday to examine."