Flooding Hits Greeley Neighborhood Hard After 3-4 Inches Of Rain in 1 Hour
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- The people of 12th Avenue in Greeley have dealt with it before. And this was a big one.
"This is probably the worst it's ever been," said Deanna Crilly.
She's lived in the neighborhood since 2012. And time after time, she says, it has flooded.
"Once, twice a year, it'll flood like this. And all of our stuff gets thrown in the garage and it gets in the basement and mold and everything."
She has complained to the city about sewer drains that get backed up she says, but not much has changed.
"One time I tried to unclog the one on the corner and I got a big piece of tree trunk that came out of it. And I called the city and I told them and they don't seem to care. But we care because it's our home."
Next door, Ashley Rodriguez was looking at the damage to her home.
"Every four years it floods like this, we go to the city and we say when will it be fixed and they'll say, 'Next time we'll put money to it, next time we'll put money to it.'"
She has recently spent tens of thousands of dollars remodeling her basement. There were about four inches of water in the basement when she and her partner got home. He slipped and got cut on the foot and had to go to the emergency room. With all the work they've done trying to help drain the basement, water still just poured in because of backups in the neighborhood.
"That doesn't help water coming in through the windows."
CBS4 attempted to contact The City of Greeley about flooding in the area Thursday night, but messages were not returned.
Slowly the water began to recede. But next door to Ashley several refugees from Congo were in a flooded rental unit. Jamallah Hasan is a translator and helps others. In her basement apartment, she sorted through wet clothes. Water sloshed in one room, with debris, reluctant to go down a floor drain.
"I live here in a little apartment that's how it is and I'm hoping maybe the landlord will come help us," she said after she tried to broom the water to the drain.
She planned to stay in the apartment for the night, "I don't care about sleeping in water, I've been sleeping in water for a long time. It's not new to me."