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Liberty storm-water project to help flooded families
LIBERTY
When it rains really hard, Kingwood Drive becomes Kingwood Creek.
The 12-inch stormwater pipes that were installed in the 1960s to accommodate the water from heavy rains — such as two that fell in early August — can’t handle the flow, and the water backs up into the street.
That’s because there is a lot more development in the area now, said Danielle Lazor, who came with her husband, David, to a Liberty Township trustees meeting this week to talk about the problem.
Theirs is one of four to five houses at the bottom of the street on a cul de sac that take the brunt of the flooding.
The Lazors have installed $10,000 worth of their own drainage to keep the water out of their basement, including three sump pumps. During the last heavy rain three weeks ago, they still got about 4 inches of water, she said.
“It’s a recurring problem,” she told The Vindicator. “We’ve owned the property seven years. It has flooded six times.”
Across the street, their neighbor, Doug Nasci, doesn’t get water in his basement. His yard floods, and he gets to watch $100 worth of mulch go floating off from his flower beds, he told the trustees.
He said he also gets water bubbling up through holes in his yard like geysers.
Township attorney Mark Finamore told the neighbors that the township does not have the authority to fix drainage problems on private property.
But the Lazors bought 15-inch pipe, and the township road department dug down 25 feet Tuesday to redirect stormwater to a bigger catch basin to help them and possibly the rest of the neighborhood, said township Administrator Pat Ungaro.
“We’re trying to alleviate some of the pressure of the water backing up the whole street,” Trustee Jason Rubin told neighborhood residents at the meeting.