By Tomas Kassahun | Reporter
@TomasKassahun
After a heavy storm hit Clovis earlier this month, Brianne Glick was busy pumping water out of her home near Locan and Nees Avenues. The flood caused about $60,000 in damage, but Glick said her neighbors were able to save it from further damage.
“The entire house was flooded,” Glick said. “My neighbors had four pumps going, getting the water across street. We didn’t know where else to put it.”
At the Clovis City Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17, Glick blamed the city for the flood. She said the newer developments in her neighborhood are built at a higher elevation and are not sufficient enough to handle water. As a result, the water traveled down the street on Locan before ending up in Glick’s home on Nees.
“The neighbors have been asking the City of Clovis to fix the flooding at Locan and Nees for over a year now,” Glick said. “There is no drainage system on Locan and Nees. Locan was never intended to take that much water. Those developments should have their own ponding basins and they should have proper drainage.”
Glick’s home, which is not in a flood zone, was built by her neighbor 35 years ago.
“We never had any issue with any type of flooding. The only changes in the last few years has been the new development at the end of the road,” she said. “With the new developments, they have raised the land over there, so all that water that would normally go into the land has to go somewhere.”
During the recent storm, Glick said the water traveled around the corner on Locan, down Nees and went through the swale in the neighbor’s yard, then came across a vacant lot east of Glick’s home.
“The city designed the water to go to the south side of the street, not my north side,” Glick said. “That’s why there are inverts at the end of the street.”
The invert is supposed to take the water from one side of the street to the other. But Glick said the inverts are too small to handle a heavy amount of water.
“Keep in mind that they’re not drains. They are inverts,” Glick added.
Although her home was the only one in the neighborhood which was entirely flooded, Glick said her neighbor also had his garage flooded and was in danger of suffering more damage.
“If the rain had kept coming, he would have been flooded out as well,” she said.
Although she did not initially get a response from the city, Glick said the city is now looking into the issue.
“It looks like we’re getting some action now,” Glick said. “There’s proof. You can see where the water went, where the water moved dirt, how fast it was going, where the majority of it came from.”
Because she’s not in a flood zone, Glick doesn’t expect her insurance to cover the damage.
“It has been a nightmare,” she said. “Thank God for my neighbors. For four hours, my neighbors stood out in the road with stop-and-go signs to stop traffic, so we can pump out the water.”