Letter to the editor: Garland flooding issue

Jun. 5, 2015

The major news stations have continually reported flooding of resident homes in Garland related to Glenbrook of Duck Creek overflowing. We are sincerely sorry for the families that have been affected.

I’m seeking help to correct an injustice that’s been costly to myself and my surrounding neighbors. In 2004 the city of Garland raised O’Banion Road five feet above the original road to supposedly correct a flooding an issue that had NEVER occurred to the homes in my area.

Only after the completion of the project did our homes begin to encounter flooding (see photos below as to the design the city implemented and photos of us attempting to keep our home from flooding as well as the aftermath). We are at least 1/2 mile from Duck Creek.

My neighbors and I expressed our concerns to the engineers during construction in 2004 stating that “you are building us into a damn”. They (engineers) reassured us that this was nothing to be concerned about and “blew us off’. They never entertained our valid concerns.

In March of 2005 our homes flooded for the first time. Some of these neighbors have been here since the 1970s and NEVER had any flooding.

The city claimed, Mr. Larry Jeffus was council member at that time, “This was the perfect storm” and the street redesign wasn’t the cause.

ANY amount of rain for the past 10 years continues to flood the front and back yards and erode the foundation surrounding my home. The neighbors experience similar issues.

Fast forward 10 years and here we are again experiencing the same problem. This time, it is twice as bad. We are at the bottom of Fieldside Drive which enters onto O’Banion Road. The original street design allowed for the water to run down our street, across O’Banion Road and into the greenbelt area. The new raised design (see pics) not only doesn’t allow the water to run across O’Banion Road anymore it causes the water to stop at our homes. It can’t get across the street and thus fills up our yards and homes like a swimming pool.

If you look at the pics you can see that the cement wall they built has one small drain for the entire system the city put for an entire house!

We’ve expressed our total frustration and helplessness with remedying the city’s design that has caused our home too be flooded two times in the last 10 years!

Ralph Sykes

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