Soaking Subdivision

Residents say their new subdivision floods every time it rains, and they want the problem fixed. Neighbors say it's literally like a river when it rains, one that's soaking their subdivision and dropping their property values. The Sunrise Meadows subdivision is only a few years old.... in fact, it hasn't even been accepted yet by Catoosa County. But, there are more than a hundred homes, and many homeowners... now worried they'll one day have to swim out of their subdisivion.

Jerry Cantrell says, "It looks like a river." A river that runs right through his yard every time it rains. He says, "I've got paperwork saying I'm not in a flood zone, but every time it rains, water goes across my backyard."

Cantrell says even though it's mostly dry today, these pictures show just how soggy the situation can get, and he's says no one is doing anything to fix it. "You look at this mess and they tell you they've down everything they're supposed to do, well, if they have, somebody approved something that wasn't right."

And he's not the only one complaining.... next door Darlene Hyde says the rain is running into her yard as well, and has even damaged her fence. She says, "It's frustrating when you can't walk out in your backyard. My sod is about that deep in water."

Residents say they took the issue to Catoosa County public works meeting last week. They say the very next day the developer came out and dug this ditch. But Hyde says as you can see, it's not working and she just wants the problem fixed permanently.

So we called the developer, Charlie Whitmire, who says he's aware of the water, but can't fix the problem immediately because it's too wet. He also said the blame lies with the builders of these homes, who didn't provide a place for the water to drain.... NOT himself.

But Hyde says if it rains much more, they're homes will be in hot water. "If it rained like that for 3 or 4 days, they would have to come get us out."

We wanted to know exactly where the responsibility for issues like this lie, and called the building inspectors office. They told us the plans for a subdivision like this one must first be approved by the County's Planning Commission, which includes checking issues like erosion control, and stormwater management... Once the final plan is signed off on by county government, the building begins, but the developer is still responsible for the roads and problems on that land. It can be years until the county accepts the subdivision and takes over the responsibility.

The building inspector's office says Sunrise Meadows has NOT yet been accepted by the county, but couldn't tell us why. We did talk with the developer Charlie Whitmire on the phone... He told us he's aware of the situation and is trying to get it fixed, but says it's happening because the builders did not grade the ground properly before they started construction.