It's been a full week since severe storms flooded parts of the Valley with rain and raw sewage, but for Anna Waldele of Poland, the clean-up in her basement is far from over.
"It was demolished. Everything had to go, all my things, my pictures....," says Anna Waldele, with tears welling up in her eyes. About two feet of water filled up her basement causing 15 to 17,000 dollars in damage, and several appliances to be replaced. Waldele says, "New hot water tank, washer, dryer. I'm going to be getting a new furnace. They had to take out my cupboards and bar and all my walls."
Anna's North Lima Road neighbor, Diane Matuz, brought 83 signatures with her to Thursday's commissioners meeting, unsatisfied with the response she's getting, or not getting, from the County Engineer's Office about these flooding problems.
"You call and you complain everytime it happens, and I think they hope that you forget about it, and then you won't call again until the next big rain," says Diane Matuz.
Engineers have lobbied commissioners for a storm water utility to raise additional funds to address the problem, but Commissioner Anthony Traficanti, who says raw sewage came up through his toilets during the storm, isn't sure another fee will fix anything. Traficanti says, "I want to make sure that if a storm water utility goes on somebody's bill, including mine, that that person is going to be represented, and that flooding issue is going to be resolved."
"Everytime there's a little bit of rain, I don't want to have to be nervous that I'm going to have a flood or have to come home from work early to find a mess," adds Waldele.
