الوصف
The storm drain at 19 S. Forest is at the bottom of 2 declines, can't handle moderate water from the big hill (no other drains on the hill) mixed with the water from the other side (which comes from the street as well as from the hill in front). Street flooding occurs and also the house at 19 S. Forest, all the road debris from the whole hill lands in a big river right through the front yard. Last rain I cleaned 10 5-gallon buckets full of silt, sand and debris, and the middle of the yard is dead. I've tried contacting WHPW but I can't get them to understand that the drain is not clogged, it's that the water is too much for 1 grate to handle, and the water doesn't hit the grate, it hits next to the grate, so the grate gets covered over almost immediately. I really need help with this, because the only thing I can think to do is build some kind of wall there to block all the debris, but if I do that, then the whole bottom of the street will just flood completely.
30 تعليقs
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
I spoke to a city person and they said they are aware of the problem and will do something. Still waiting to see if/how the city fixes this. They did send me a letter about my taxes going up because they have decided my house is worth more now than last year, but I don't think it is, seeing as it has a flooding problem.
All they have to do is put in a double-length grate -- if you look at the picture, where the water runs across the yard, there should be a grate there, no?
Eleanore Turkington (ضيف)
HI: The photo, enlarged, indicates a serious problem. Gripe Vine in the West Haven Voice would like to see this corrected. All you have to do is email Gripevine4wh@aol.com I have printed out the complete complaint and photo. Just submit your name,address and phone number, KEPT CONFIDENTIAL IF YOU WISH and I will get to work on it.
Eleanore Turkington
Gripe Vine Columnist
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
I'm not sure how SeeClickFix works, like if I'm supposed to regularly update this post, so here it goes:
I got a call today (1-6-11) from the city, they said they will talk to the engineer and see how to remedy the situation. I'm very excited at the prospect of this problem being fixed.
I will post any new information as it comes.
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Eleanore Turkington (ضيف)
Send me your name,address and phone number and I'll be happy to investigate your complaint. Your identity is kept strictly confidential.
Send to: Gripevine4wh@aol.com
or write to Gripe Vine West Haven Voice 666 Savin Avenue, West Haven,Ct 06516
Eleanore Turkington
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Jessica Dzierlatka (مستخدم مسجل)
Eleanore Turkington (ضيف)
Eleanore Turkington
Gripe Vine
West Haven Voice
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
We got a call last week from city public works, they said they would come out this week. A city truck came this morning (5-17-11) to see if the drain was clogged, but it wasn't because I raked the hill Thursday, and then street sweepers came, so there wasn't much debris on the hill for this weekend's rain to pick up.
My wife explained to the city guys -- again -- that the problem is not that the drainpipe is clogged, it's that the water isn't getting to the drainpipe. They said someone from the city was going to be coming by, but that was about 4 hours ago, and no one has come by yet. Then I got an email from SeeClickFix asking if the issue was resolved so I thought I would post here.
So, just an update: If we don't hear from anyone in a couple of days, I am going to call the city again and see what's up with it. The lawn is all nice and full now, except for the huge dead area in the middle where all the road sediment and garbage settled every time the drain failed.
What I really want to do is not pay my taxes, because I should either get this issue fixed or get a lower assessment on my property because it is devalued by this. My taxes are paid directly by my mortgage company so I don't know how I can not pay the city, but I feel like West Haven is just playing games. While the SeeClickFix case is fairly recent, in July it will be two years that we have been trying to get the city to fix this problem.
Eleanore Turkington (ضيف)
Send your gripe to Gripevine4wh@aol.com Include your name, address and phone number and I will try to help you.
Eleanore Turkington
Gripe Vine
West Haven Voice
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
So the grate got clogged again during yesterday evening's storm, and the yard got flooded with another round of road debris. I didn't bother with taking pictures of it because it's the same as the rest of the pictures here.
I checked the grate before the rain, and it was clear, and I didn't see much debris up the street.
After the city did some work on the grate/curb and a curb cutout up the road, I was able to figure out that the remaining problem is that the water, when heavy, hits to the left of the grate, and that mixes with water already coming from the left and goes right over the curb and across the property. So, I think the 2 options left are an additional grate to the left of the existing grate and/or a 1- to 2-foot barrier at the edge of the yard, against the curb where the flooding happens. I will look into some cinderblocks or something, I just don't know if that will make the water flood the street or simply flood wherever the barrier ends.
Eleanore Turkington (ضيف)
Send me your name, address, phone number (kept strictly confidential) and I will follow up on this issue.
Send to gripevine4wh@aol.com
Eleanore Turkington
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
UPDATE: The problem remains, coming up on two years.
I did get a small reduction in the assessed value of the land. It won't translate into any real savings tax-wise, but it makes me feel slightly better when I have to clean up all the debris and have a crappy-looking lawn.
For the latest example, the rain this morning, I woke up to a clogged grate and flooded, debris-filled yard even though there wasn't a twig in sight beforehand -- I and my neighbor cleared the street of all debris, all the way up the hill, in anticipation of the rain. Where the debris came from I have no idea, but it's a lot. I didn't take photos because it doesn't look much different than every other picture I posted here -- the water/debris follows the same path every time, which is part of why it's so bad -- the land never heals before it's attacked again.
So at this point, I'm back to trying to figure out a remedy. My plan right now is a low fence around the area, backed by chicken wire. If I make it about 2 feet high, I should be able to catch most of the debris while letting the water through. (If I block the water completely, it still will have to go somewhere, and it likely would just find the edge of the barrier and flood there, which would be too close to the house.)
The only thing that keeps me sane is that this water/drainage issue -- where the water's coming from -- is damaging my neighbor's actual house, as well as his land, so my complaints seem trivial compared to his problem. Hopefully, if I can get the city to address the issue in a meaningful way, it will solve it for both of us.
Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
مغلق Al Santangelo (مستخدم مسجل)
Success!
So a couple of weeks ago, the city decided to try to remedy the flooding issue. While the parallel street above the hill still does not have drainage, the city put a drain at the bottom of the hill in my across-the-street neighbor's back yard, and another drain in front of his house across from "my" drain, and tied them both into the pipe in my drain. Then they cut some of the corner off my property in front of my drain to better direct the water that was actually supposed to be going into my drain.
It's only rained a couple of times so far, but it seems like the theory was correct -- catching the water and putting it into the underground pipes directly into my drain, rather than letting it flow across my neighbor's property and the street and somewhat toward my drain, seems to alleviate enough of the overflow where things will work as they should. As long as I keep the drain clear, it seems to work well, and keeping the drain clear is much easier now that there's not extra debris coming from the hill and yard.
The whole job took about 3 or 4 days (with a couple of weeks in between to let the ground settle before repaving) and looks much better. They also replaced the curb at the edge of my neighbor's house and shored up the edge, so any extra rainwater doesn't flow across the street but rather is directed into the new drain in front of his house.
So after all this time, it looks like a solution was actually fairly simple and hopefully it will work well.
As an aside - I want to know what kind of grass seed the guys who did the job used, They had to tear up my neighbor's yard pretty good to put the pipe in connected the drains in the back and front of his house, and some on my yard where they cut the corner off, and it is the most amazing grass seed I've ever seen. It went from dirt to nice, green, lush grass seemingly within days. When I see them again in town I will ask.
Thank you to everyone who too interest and voted to fix this problem. Hopefully this coming winter and spring will prove to be much less destructive than before!