Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Fayetteville residents upset with city over flooding issue

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

About this time last year, Janice Summers saw her basement flooded with sewage as heavy rains caused havoc in Fayetteville.

Shirley Butel remembers trying to rescue her birds from their outdoor aviary before it was washed away by a creek that rose well up into her backyard, ultimately reaching her garage, totaling two cars.

Now, when rain threatens, Summers and Butel turn their eyes to the Internet and TV stations, wondering when they’ll be hit next.

(Editor's Note: See The Citizen's home page for up-to-date weather information.)

It’s not unusual for them to call each other on the phone at 3 a.m. or later, trying to figure out when the rain will stop and how it might affect them.

The worrying has gotten them to the point where they will shine their flashlights in the pitch black of night, just to make sure the water level hasn’t risen dramatically.

“You listen, you watch and you wonder,” Summers said.

Summers and Butel say Fayetteville city officials have them wondering if any of the proposed repairs to their eastside neighborhood will do any good.

“They’re not going to make the creek any wider or deeper,” Summers said. “We keep getting our hopes up and we’re thankful something’s going to be done. What they’re telling us they’re going to do hasn’t convinced me they’re going to fix it.”

City Engineer Don Easterbrook said he hopes to have a public meeting in a month or so to explain the city’s plans for improvements in the east Fayetteville basin, which includes Summers’ and Butel’s neighborhoods. Before holding the meeting, however, he wants to make sure some more details are finalized.

Summers’ home is on Circle Drive, adjacent to a stormwater detention pond that crested its wall during last year’s big rainstorm. City crews nailed several boards up to increase the height of the concrete wall, but Summers is skittish about whether or not it will hold back any additional rainwater.

The height of a sewer manhole near Summers’ house has also been increased since the flood last year, she said.

But the city also wants an easement to create another flume to handle the flow from the detention pond, and Summers said she’s not going to provide the easement. She would rather the city purchase the property “at a fair price” so she won’t have to continue to pay taxes on it.

“I’m on a fixed income and I don’t have a whole lot of money,” Summers said. “I’ve really tried to work with them but I can’t sign that easement.”

Easterbrook said the city wants to create a larger flume leading from the detention pond so water can move more quickly downstream from the pond through a larger culvert under Circle Drive. Without the easement, that project is on hold.

Already, the city has raised sewer manholes in the area to “prevent backups,” Easterbrook said. The city has also cleaned debris from part of the creek and is working on easements to clean out the remainder of it, Easterbrook added.

The city also wants to replace some existing culverts, where the water flows under the road, with larger culverts to handle a larger flow, Easterbrook said.

The city’s lawyers are working on the easement issue with Summers, as the city doesn’t want to purchase the property or build a wall along her property line where it runs next to the flume from the detention pond, Easterbrook said. The project has already been designed and is ready to go through the bid process, he noted.

Summers has lived there since 1991 and now her three grandchildren also live with her. The recent flood damaged carpet and hardwood floors in her basement, which had to be ripped up to eliminate mold problems, she said. The city offered her $3,000 to replace the carpet, Summers said, but she turned the offer down because “I had to sign a bunch of releases.”

She didn’t have special flood insurance, which she now has, because she didn’t know her home was in a flood plain.

After having a company check out her property to provide her advice on how to deal with the flooding problems, the gentleman gave Summers this advice: “Move.”

“My house is a dam,” Summers said.

Summers recalled that Easterbrook came to her home to observe the flooding conditions, wading into her flooded basement. She still can’t figure out how he got there since the road conditions were so horrible.

Butel, who lives on Buckeye Lane, said she had to replace her home’s heating and air conditioning system, including the downstairs ducts which had mold growing in them.

She recalled the water in her front yard was up to her knees.

“I’m not ready for 14-17 inches of rain again,” Butel said. “That will do me in.”

Butel said Easterbrook and a representative of Integrated Science and Engineering, the city’s consulting engineering firm, walked the creek with her and some repairs have been made. The city cleaned out debris from the last storm, which included an entire shed that washed downstream under the force of the current when the creek became elevated far over its bank.

Butel said the flood also washed away her Koi fish, including one found by a police officer that was out of water for eight hours but was revived once put back in the water.

The city is looking into perhaps widening a portion of the creek near Butel’s home, but it is not clear if that will be allowed by the Army Corps of Engineers, Easterbrook said.

A new subdivision being built to the north of Butel’s neighborhood also has her worried, since she wonders if the stormwater from that area will eventually plow through the creek in her backyard. She also thinks development as far north as the J&R Clothing plaza on Ga. Highway 85 north could affect stormwater flow in the area.

“I’m not mad at anybody; I just don’t understand why,” Butel said, adding that she’s tired of waiting for the city to take more action.

She wants the city to fix problem drainage areas, maintain the creek that handles the stormwater flow and make sure new developments have well-engineered plans to handle stormwater detention.

The city’s creation of a stormwater utility is a start, Butel said.

“They’ve got good employees but they need to hire some more,” she said.