Weatherford Homeowners Turn To City To Help Battle Flooding
WEATHERFORD (CBSDFW.COM) – Homeowners in a Weatherford subdivision say they worry most about flooding and erosion: When heavy rains arrive, water from nearby Holland Lake Creek pours in, turning backyards into channels of rushing water.
"I can stand here and, on the hour, come out here and it will get higher and higher and higher," said Lisa Sullivan, who has lived in her home since 2001.
Sullivan says her backyard literally becomes a lake.
The Holland Lake Creek runs behind her subdivision along Camelot Drive and King Arthur Drive. Her neighbor Wendy Walling is also anxious, and reports a similar occurence.
"I was going to retire here, I don't want to wake up when I'm 72 years old and be stepping out into water," said Walling. "It makes me mad!"
The homeowners also worry the water will carve chunks of land out and pull the homes into the creek.
"It's about 20 feet to my backdoor the erosion point," Sullivan said. "It was never like that in the past."
During a work session Tuesday night, city officials discussed storm water drainage funding. There are more than 15 projects the city needs to tackle.
But ask homeowners in the Briarwood subdivision off of Santa Fe Drive; the biggest of all those is what's happening in their backyards.
"We have developed a plan right now part funding through budget to help residents with erosion issues," said James Hotopp, the Director of Water/Waste Water Engineering Utilities.
Hotopp says the city also looked into the flooding concerns. He says a study showed that the creek could handle all of the water expected to flow through it.
But for these homeowners who anxiously wait for another storm to pass, flooding is a problem and they wish the city would do something about it.
"You thought you would retire here and now everything is getting washed away and there is no relief anywhere," said Sullivan.
The homeowners also say they just found out they live on a floodplain and that they were not told when they bought their homes.
