Residents want Ann Arbor City Council to form task force to address flooding in Bryant neighborhood
As a result of recent storms, numerous parts of the community were flooded, including crawl spaces and first floor rooms. This photo was taken last week.
Photo courtesy of the Bryant Community Center
When it rains, water can pool for weeks in Dotty Peterman's backyard. In the spring and summer, her grass never really dries up.
Peterman isn’t alone. Other residents of the city’s Bryant neighborhood are reporting persistent flooding of their yards and moisture problems in their homes that appear to be worsening.
A community organization is now planning to ask the Ann Arbor City Council to create a task force to help come up with solutions. Residents are hoping some type of public help will be available to ease the burden on the homeowners.
Peterman, who has lived in the neighborhood on West Eden Court for 38 years, said flooding had been an on-again, off-again problem. But this year, it's been worse and has kept her and her granddaughters from enjoying her property.
After heavy rains several weeks ago, water pooled along the property line that divides the backyards of Peterman, her next-door neighbor, and two neighbors whose backyards face hers. The water was 4 feet deep in places and spread more than 10 feet across the property.
Residents in the Bryant neighborhood say they've been contending with flooding on and off for years.
Photo courtesy of the Bryant Community Center
The water lapped against the foundation of her garage. She rented a pump and ran it for 36 hours to remove the water.
“It smelled like a septic tank back there,” said Peterman.
The Bryant neighborhood, located on the city’s south side, is a collection of mostly small single-family homes on small culs-de-sac off the neighborhood’s main street, Champagne Drive. It has one of the highest percentages of children receiving free or reduced-rate lunch in the city’s school district, neighborhood advocates say.
Of 147 households who returned a survey, 90 percent indicated problems with water flooding and pooling in their yards or dampness and moisture in their crawl-spaces. Homes weren’t built with basements. Surveys also pointed to a significant concern for respiratory problems, presumably from hidden mold caused by the dampness. The surveys were given to 286 households.
“It was quite alarming,” said Derrick Miller, director of the Bryant Community Center, which is managed under contract with a city agency by the Community Action Network. CAN coordinated the survey, which included canvassing the neighborhood.
CAN Director Joan Doughty said residents, many of whom are of modest means, can’t afford costly fixes. And in any case, the problems can’t be solved by individual homeowners, she said.Â
Doughty plans to ask the City Council to name a task force to investigate the problems, and commit to the idea that resolving the problems will be the collective responsibility of the community.
“We need to have political resolve that this is a community problem, not a homeowner problem,” she said.
Flooding and poor drainage occurs on private property, but the problems result from several factors, including the way the neighborhood was built, she said. Homes were built too low to the area’s high water table, she said.Â
Clay soil excavated from one area of the neighborhood appears to have been spread across the area during development of the neighborhood.
Borings by the city found clay soil, which doesn’t drain well, extending 20 feet down. That means one idea initially considered to fix the drainage problems - installing French drains - wouldn't be suitable. Some drains and flood control devices that are listed on the subdivision’s plans are missing from the yards or not in the correct location.
In addition, homeowners may have added bushes, trees and fences over the years to their yards, compromising the effectiveness of the swales, essentially low-lying drainage ditches built by the developer to channel water away from homes.
The shallow 1-percent slope of the yards - a lesser standard than what is required today -- has been altered and leveled in many cases, perhaps by the ground sinking or from people filling in the property over the years.
Low-interest loans that can be paid off by the proceeds from the sale of the homes are available for low-income homeowners, but the terms specify the money first has to be used to bring the homes up to current codes. After that, there’s little money left over to address drainage issues, Doughty said.
She said it’s likely a range of fixes will be needed in the neighborhood.
Some of the current residents may be running into problems caused by previous owners.Â
Don Whitfield, who has lived on West Eden Court for 20 years, wondered why his yard was so prone to flooding. Then about six years ago, he obtained the plans for his property.Â
Whitfield, a former city water department employee, dug in his yard for three weeks until he found the drain that was supposed to carry water away from his property. Not only had it been covered by plastic bags, it was under much more soil than it should have been.
“They graded over it,” he said. “It got covered over. Nobody ever worried.”
Dave Gershman is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
BobbyJohn
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 9:28 p.m.
@Mi-Expatriate No, Home inspectors are beholden to Realtors. I repeat myself - - As Consumer Reports says, Buyers should not trust realtors recommendations for home inspectors because realtors have a vested interest in the deal going through. Consumer Reports calls it unethical for that reason.
T
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 12:58 p.m.
Gill said, If the storm line that is plugged and/or collapsed is PUBLIC, then the City needs to repair it. If the line is PRIVATE, then the homeowners or homeowner association needs to repair it. I think it may be a little more an issue of if it actually supposed to be public. What's most likely in these photos is likely blurry. The homes in the photos do not look like Condos that would have a neighborhood association with the authority to cross property lines. The drains belong on utility easements across private property because they are common to the neighborhood. If there is a neighborhood association with the authority to cross property lines it would be that association's responsibility to clean them, and the responsibility would default to the city if no lower authority exists.
Carolyn
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 11:38 a.m.
What happened to the "a sump pump" for every home in Ann Arbor (an initiative of Steve Ranpundalo's) OR was this only for homes with basements? Were these homeowners's part of the program that disconnected the drain tiles around the footings of the houses and redirected the rainwater out of the sewer lines? Just wondering if any of this makes sense or is even relevant?
A Pretty Ann Arbor
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 10:37 a.m.
the proper plural terminology is "culs-de-sac" NOT "cul-de-sacs" "s" is on the cul not the sac http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culs-de-sac
Gill
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 7:23 a.m.
If the storm line that is plugged and/or collapsed is PUBLIC, then the City needs to repair it. If the line is PRIVATE, then the homeowners or homeowner association needs to repair it.
Paul Cartman
Sun, Jun 27, 2010 : 7:19 a.m.
Some facts about the water issues addressed in this article... I live and own rentals in the neighborhood, and have been here for 14 years. I am a licensed residential builder. We are not in a flood plain. The water issues in this neighborhood are not exactly flooding issues. We have what is known as a floating water table; surface water from rains cannot effectively penetrate the 12-20-foot-thick clay layer, so it sits atop this layer creating ponding. Over the years, I have owned 14 houses in this, the Arbor Oaks neighborhood (sometimes inaccurately called Bryant because of the school orStoneybrook because of the park). I have inspected and/or performed work on dozens of others. It is fair to say that I am familiar with a representative cross section of houses here, and that water issues are not isolated. When Arbor Oaks was built in 69-71 the builder and the city were aware of the clay soil and potential water issues. As resolution the builder incorporated numerous swales throughout the neighborhood, graded to channel water either to the streets or to "beehives"/catch basins located in numerous yards around the neighborhood. The City, in turn, allowed the builder to connect these private catch basins to the under-street storm water system owned and operated by the city. Homeowners do not have the equipment to flush the pipes (sometimes 150 feet long) between the private catch basins and the city storm pipes. The city recognizes the need for clean storm water pipes, so flushes their own. The city refuses, however, to clean the pipes connecting the city system to these private storm water catch basins. Inevitably, the pipes become clogged and the catch basins are rendered useless; this also renders the entire swale-drainage-system equally useless.Note that the ranch houses in the neighborhood do not have footing drains (possibly with some exceptions). There is a moisture problem in this neighborhood. So far the city has directed all of its energy toward showing that the problem is not the legal fault of the city. The city is aware of the extraordinarily thick clay layer, and the damage it has done to city water mains. As such, the city plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars this summerbreaking out all of the roads in the neighborhood and replacing all of the city water mains! Numerous engineers as well as current and former city water and field services employees belive that installing edge drains while the streets are torn out and connecting them to the in-street storm drains could effectively and economically resolve much of this neighborhood's "floating water table" problem. Many of us in the neighborhood would like to see the city perform water main replacement in phases, redirecting some of the funds to edge drains in the smaller areas where they would already have the streets torn out. This is the kind of thinking in which we would like to see the city engage before tearing out and replacing our streets only to potentially have to break them up laterto address drainage issues--two birds with one stone. I'm happy to discuss this further with anyone interested.
Vince Caruso
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 9:56 p.m.
When we tried to get flood insurance way outside the floodplain, but with potential flooding in the neighborhood, and our insurance agent strongly indicated it is not for us. It may have been available but he would not be inclined to sell it to us and very few outside the floodplain have it. If you are in the floodplain (and your bank knows it) and have a mortgage you are required to have it. The footer disconnect program (disconnect from the sanitary sewer), after it was pushed hard by the ACWG.Org and others, is now a state standard for reducing basement flooding from sewer backup. The original plan after many homes were flooded with sewage was to put in big holding tanks in several woodlands and not disconnect the sump pumps from the sanitary sewer (storm drain/creek is separate in AA). This has helped reduce basement backups all over town. Our sewer fees keep going up to cover non sewer problems as this allows more funds to be collected without calling it a tax. The majority in city hall feels it is not going to cost them votes to ignore flooding potential in the OWS or other neighborhoods. Maybe you should vote this Aug. 3, (and Nov. 2) and prove them wrong.
kathryn
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 5:12 p.m.
This flooding is apparently bad in this neighborhood, but they aren't alone. When we lived on the old west side, neighbors' yards would fill up like this every spring during the rains. Our sump pump would run 24/7 for weeks while the water worked it's way down. I don't think that the Bryant area is unique...and although I do feel for them. I remember the smell... and the dogs (and the kids!) coming in all wet and muddy after playing "out back." I don't quite understand the law here---is it a city responsibility to make sure that private properties drain into the storm sewer system? Or are they just responsible for the roads...and wet back yards are the problem of the property owner?
a2since73
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 5:08 p.m.
Clearly, the problem of flooding during severe storms citywide has not been solved. In previous years, the sanitary system could not handle the overload in a severe storm. Currently, the storm system cannot handle the overload in a severe storm. If the objective of the footing drain disconnect project was to reduce flooding during severe storms, it has been a failure. I believe the drain disconnect project was put in place so that new houses could be added to the sanitary system by disconnecting the footing drains on existing houses from the sanitary system and putting them into the storm system. In Ann Arbor, the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.
Mr. Tibbs
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 4:43 p.m.
the city doesn't have the resources? what is that big ugly building hiding that other ugly building on 100 north fifth? I think they should change the name to "upturned" fifth. somebody in that building is not sober. your taxes keep going up, you have never turned down one tax millage for the parks, yet for some reason, your parks look like, well, they look like a ticket you would recieve if your property looked that way. will someone please tell me why the city is broke? Tell me why the U.ofM. isn't offering to help? why are there so many people in city hall making 1.5K or better? perhaps the "green" that the mayor was talking about was the green lining of admin, pockets, while the citizens loose services, and precious properties,(in the flooding)let alone property values. from the looks of things you have only one conclusion to make.
Brian Kuehn
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 4:38 p.m.
Flood insurance is sold through the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) or an insurance company that participates with NFIP (i.e. the insurer accepts the premium, sends most of the premium to the NFIP, who then is responsible for all claims). As long as a community participates in the NFIP (Ann Arbor does) anyone can purchase flood insurance. One does not have to live in a flood plain to purchase coverage. Rates vary greatly between a location that has never experienced flooding versus a location that is within a recognized flood zone (e.g. property near the Allen Creek Drain). Flood is generally defined as an overflow of an existing body of water (e.g. a stream) but it can also include a rapid accumulation of rain or rain run-off. The events described appear to be floods as defined by the NFIP. Typically flood insurance sold through the NFIP will not cover damage in a basement. It is designed for flood events that effect property above grade level. From my viewpoint, which is admittedly conservative, if one has problems with flooding, buy flood insurance unless your projected loss is less than the cost of insurance. Is flood insurance costly? Most assurededly yes in commonly flooded areas. But if one does not purchase flood insurance, then don't come crying to the government that you just had a flood. Do I know what I am talking about? At least partially as I have been a licensed insurance agent for over 30 years. Is anything I stated incorrect? Perhaps, depending on the facts. As we all know, blanket statements of fact or often wrong given a very specific set of circumstances. In general, however, the facts related to insurance are correct.
Alan Benard
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 3:32 p.m.
@Humdinger: There is nothing mundane about a house flooding.
michiganpoorboy
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 1:29 p.m.
Why would any one live in Ann Arbor?
Soothslayer
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 1:19 p.m.
The City doesn't have the resources or desire to inspect or protect residential and commerical owners and renters from lack of permitting, negligence, ordinance violations, water intrusion problems, etc. The courts have a century of legislation behind them to protect the property owner and not the renter so don't expect any sympathy there either.
xmo
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 12:44 p.m.
This area should be consider "Wetlands" and subject to all of the enviromental restrictions that we have on wetlands. After all, this is Ann Arbor and we have to save the planet one neighborhood at a time.
81wolverine
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 12:19 p.m.
Form a city council task force to come up with solutions? That's one thing. Getting the city to decide on what to do and take action is quite another.
leaguebus
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 11:59 a.m.
I lived in this neighborhood back in the 70's and there was never this much water, but the swales had water in the spring. I know most of the culdesacs had storm sewers in them, why not trench to the culdesac or street in front of these houses and dump the water to the storm sewers. The storm sewers should be lower than the swales. I also agree that this is a city problem. The city should never have allowed the developer to build there in the first place without a series of drains/swales that were not on the homes' property. The water table is just below the surface in a lot of cases. These homes have been there for about 40 years, property taxes have been paid on these homes for 40 years, thats a lot of money into the city's coffers, its time to spend some to take care of building department mistakes and please don't say its not the building departments fault. If that land had not gotten city services, the county would not have let anyone build there because the high water table and the clay soil would not perc and allow septic drain fields. That should have been a red flag to the building department that adequate drainage would be needed.
Mr. Tibbs
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 11:39 a.m.
Besides the usual didja have insurance questions..... I have both a legal question, and infrastructure question. Who is responsible if you "rent" your home if the roof leaks? DO you have to pay rent until it is fixed. Can you put your rent in escrow? OK as we can see the city is having trouble fixing its crumbling infrastructure. Are they responsible for the lack of drainage? And if they are, can you put your tax moneis ALSO in escrow until the problem is fixed? of course not, now imagine these people in charge of your health care........
Vince Caruso
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 11:35 a.m.
Generally national flood insurance is available to those in or very close to a floodplain. I'm not sure but I don't think this area is in a floodplain on the FEMA maps. Some projects have helped our substantial Allen's Creek watershed flooding issues, although the city has been slow to address flooding and our urban watershed problems for years. Knowledge based watershed planning or even getting a simple watershed study done to know what we are facing, has been imposable; this with $M planed to be spent on art celebrating watersheds. After years of effort we have just just gotten a large underground holding tank put in at Pioneer HS this year, road projects with extra large stormwater pipes to hold the large rains back, and rain garden and rain barrel initiatives. A porous paver easement on Easy St., new porous pavement road is going in on Sylvan Ave, and porous parking lot across from the Library. Recent projects have been mostly paid for with federal stimulus funds. Getting away from "hard concrete" solutions to more "soft" solutions is gaining much more support. Dealing with the problem at its source not piping it away for someone else to deal with has been clearly shown to be much less costly. Stimulus funds may still be available for watershed improvement projects. For our current majority in city government flooding issues are not very sexy, or supported by most builders and developers, until a major flood happens and homes and lives are effected. Careful who gets on the taskforce as this may be the biggest problem in getting anything done. Many national organizations, including the US-EPS and, and UM scientist have predicted much more flooding for Michigan due to Global Warming. With many 100 year and several 500 year rains in the recent years in lower Michigan acting now would be in our best interest.
suzanne
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 11:14 a.m.
We lived in the neighborhood for years and every spring our backyard was so boggy that you couldn't mow until May. I hope this gets resolved with out much cost to the residents. Many residents have lived in the neighborhood since it was built-many are now adults that grew up in the homes they live in. I know of many people that have mold issues in their houses-I don't think that the crawl spaces were built with enough ventilation. The neighborhood is planning a reunion in July-this would be a great time for a bank or the city to get some great PR.
Alan Benard
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 10:47 a.m.
If the city is collecting property taxes on these homes, then it has a duty to ensure that the common drainage system functions according to the original plans for the subdivision. At the same time, the homeowners (especially those owning income properties) have a duty to improve their properties to meet current standards. I appreciate that the Bryant Center is organizing to bring this about. We also need leadership from the banks and credit-unions in the area to do what they can to help owners finance the repairs. If our financial system were functioning properly, this would be both a marketing and PR opportunity for a local financial institution. The city task-force should focus on this.It is not acceptable to say that these private homeowners have a private problem they have to solve themselves. Improving the lower-value properties in the city improves the entire city. Also: Why does the "Latest Stories" automated story picker point to Ypsilanti stories? This area is in the City of Ann Arbor.
caledonia
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 10:20 a.m.
@scooter dog A handful of the ranch houses in the neighborhood do have basements, though most are on crawl spaces. Several others are split-levels, with finished living space located halfway underground. I lived in this neighborhood for several years and am surprised to read about the flooding problems. We never had any trouble, and reading this I feel like we dodged a bullet. I hope the city can address the grading and drainage problems, and help keep one of Ann Arbor's few affordable housing areas habitable, if the problems are as widespread and deeply ingrained in the design of the lots as the article indicates.
bg
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 10:01 a.m.
lefty48197: drains from your footings should not be draining into the sanitary sewer system as you mentioned. During a storm, this would overwhelm the waste water treatment plant (WWTP) with water that does not require treating. The city of Ann Arbor is currently actively paying homeowners for these to be disconnected, and connected into the storm sewer as they should be. Neither action (whether your footing drains drain into the sanitary or storm sewer) will guarantee a dry house. If we get a 25-year or 100-year rain, as we seem to be getting these days, if the ground is already saturated then the water has nowhere else to go, particularly if the soil is composed of clay which will not readily absorb water - hence the water will pool in the lowest part of your yard.
Brad
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 9:29 a.m.
I just convened a one-man task force and here are my findings: 1) Water runs downhill 2) When it gets to the bottom of the hill, it will drain if there's a drain there, otherwise it will pool until it soaks in and/or evaporates.
krc
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 9:18 a.m.
Let me be the first to mention this: in the paragraph next to the second picture (starting with 'In the Bryant neighborhood..') the second sentence has nothing to do with the subject matter. It should be deleted.
scooter dog
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 9:18 a.m.
If I am not mistaken ALL of the houses in this neighborhood are on crawl spaces and do not have basements I worked for the masonary company that did all the block work for the crawl spaces back in the late 60's/early 70's It was all clay and we had no problems with cave-ins when trenching the footings. I thought flood insurance was for when water got into your house and not just your yard.
MI-expatriate
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 8:48 a.m.
@BobbyJohn I don't know how long ago you worked with a realtor but most will stress that the seller's disclosure must include the entire history of the property while owned by the seller, not just current conditions, and will also note the fraud issue for omitting the truth. As a buyer agent, a seller's disclosure that is not completely filled out, even if the answer is "unknown" should be sent back to the seller for completion. Regarding home inspectors, a good one will spend 3 hours or more in even a small property, there is no financial tie between an inspector and a realtor, and a realtor does not usually get referrals from an inspector - they work with too many realtors to pick one, and that would alienate every other realtor they work with. I suspect you have had a very bad realtor experience. Luckily most of the part time or unscrupulous realtors are out of the business - who could hold on in these last few years if they didn't operate honestly and knowlegdeably?
5c0++ H4d13y
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 8:24 a.m.
^ Flood insurance only comes from the government. Why is a task force needed for this? Any half alive civil engineer can solve this in their sleep. The city just needs to get started on the project.
BobbyJohn
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 8:19 a.m.
@Vivienne The Sellers Disclosure form asks sellers if there are flooding problems. However, realtors do not stress to sellers how important it is fill out the form truthfully and fully. They do not go through the form line by line w/ the seller and make sure there are no lapses or missing info. Also, the form doesn't ask if there has EVER BEEN any flooding, just if there is flooding. Often times, the flooding of a year or two ago is not mentioned, since it is not currently flooding. Home inspectors, if skilled and willing to put in the 4 or so hours it takes to thoroughly inspect the home will alert the buyer to the problem. Also, a good and honest inspector will point out that the prospective home is in an area known for flooding. Unfortunately, many people get their home inspection recommendation from their realtor, who has a vested financial interest in the sale. And many home inspectors have a vested interest in doing quick and easy inspections so as not to "kill the deal" and then lose the realtor as a source of referrals (read as MONEY). Even Consumer Reports says the worst way to pick a home inspector is to get a referral from your realtor. Anyways, buyers should be aware that in our area, neighborhoods w/ crawl spaces and slabs instead of basements are generally in flood prone areas. That is why there are no basements. That is also why those homes are the least expensive in town.
MI-expatriate
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 8:18 a.m.
There are 3 areas on the Michigan Association of Realtors "Seller's Disclosure Statement" that address water problems on the property: *Basement/Crawlspace: Has there been evidence of water? yes___no___ If yes, please explain:______________________________________________ *Do you have flood insurance on the property? unknown___yes___no___ *Settling, flooding, drainage, structural or drainage problems? unknown___yes___no___ This is a required form for all privatedly sold properties. Bank-owned or government-owned sales are exempt. Failure to supply known information truthfully is fraudulent by the seller and can result in charges even after the sale closes. Realtors do not fill out this form since they have never lived in the property and are not liable.
Cici
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 7:51 a.m.
RE: flood insurance. Isn't this purchases via the Federal Gov't, not insurance companies?
lefty48197
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 7:45 a.m.
There was a lot of flooding in this area over the last couple of weeks. Judging by how many "flood clean up" trucks I saw around town after the big storm, there were probably several hundred homes in the Ann Arbor area that received flood damage. I know two people who's homes flooded. One reported seeing water rising up through a floor drain inside his home. Another suspected the exact same thing. Storm drains will only back up like that when the city's storm sewer system is overwhelmed. That happens when we get several inches of rain within a short period of time. Floor drains inside homes should drain into the sanitary sewer system, but apparently back in the day, they allowed floor drains inside the homes that drain into the storm sewer system. Tying those drains into the sanitary sewer system will likely prevent further flooding in those cases. If the homeowners in the Bryant neighborhood filled in their swales, or planted something within the swale then it's their responsibility to restore the swale to it's original state. If storm catch basins aren't working or are missing then the solution is the put them in where they belong. If the storm pipes or catch basins are filled with dirt and debris, then it's the city's responsibility to clean them out so that they function properly. It's not rocket science. Flood insurance is a non-starter since either the city and/or the homeowners obviously have to do something to fix the problem. Insurance companies won't pay for damage repairs when the simple solution to the problem goes unaddressed. I'll bet I could look at the situation and design a solution in a very short period of time. I think the people who are paid to do that should do their jobs and fix the problem. If the homeowners have ruined the swale system then make them fix it. If more catch basins are needed, then put them in. Problem solved.
Vivienne Armentrout
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 7:37 a.m.
I don't think that flood insurance would be likely to cover this type of problem, which seems to be more of a drainage issue. The reason that I commented on the duplication of photos (aside from my inner editor coming out) is that it is difficult to gauge how widespread the problem is since all three photos appear to be of the same low/wet spot. There is a recommended disclosure form that the Board of Realtors used to make available - disclosing various possible defects of a piece of property at sale. Does anyone know whether drainage is one of the things listed?
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 7:28 a.m.
"Would someone explain to me why these homeowners haven't purchased flood insurance, especially since there appears to be a history of such problems??" Maybe because it would be cost prohibitive? Insurance companies are in the business of turning a profit, not paying out claims. I don't know for a fact, just suggesting a possibility.
Cici
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 7:09 a.m.
Would someone explain to me why these homeowners haven't purchased flood insurance, especially since there appears to be a history of such problems?? If I am reading it correctly, why should the city (more tax money again....) have responsibility for this or finding a 'solution'? Any appraisal by a lender or inspection prior to purchase of a home here should have indicated the possibility of flooding and mention flood plains. Maps of flood zones are available, and if I was in a 'floodable' area I would have flood insurance. As they say - homeowners don't think flooding can happen to them.
Vivienne Armentrout
Sat, Jun 26, 2010 : 5:34 a.m.
Two of the photographs with this article are identical and the other appears to be the same location taken from a different angle. The spelling is "swales".