Mini-flood claims cars
Published 9:59 pm Thursday, July 12, 2012
![IMG_1824](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2012/07/IMG_1824.jpg)
The internal parking lot at College Square Townhomes and Apartments was dry Thursday, a far cry from a day earlier when flooding damaged residents’ cars.
People at a North Suffolk apartment complex whose cars were damaged by flooding say they are immersed in more water-related woes than Wednesday’s event alone.
Shannon Brooks is one of a dozen or more residents at College Square Townhomes and Apartments on Old College Drive who woke up to find their cars swamped.
The insurance company put the damage to her 2001 Honda Accord at $846, and
Brooks says S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co., the owner of College Square, should pay her $500 deductible.
“I feel like they should reimburse me,” she said.
Latrey Myrick, a College Square resident of two months, said she had to remove the carpet from her car after Wednesday’s flood.
“I saw somebody with their pants rolled up and it was up to their knees,” she said. “If this is an ongoing problem, somebody should have said something, because I wouldn’t have moved out here.”
A city crew opposite College Square Thursday was not fixing blocked drains responsible for the flooding, as Schwartz suggested, but another drain which the apartment complex does not flow into, Public Works Director Eric Nielsen said.
“We could not find any obstruction at all in the city drainage system” that could have led to the flooding, he said.
The city also released a statement, saying in part: “It would appear that the private drainage system and perhaps some of the city system is not sized to handle the amount of rain that fell [Wednesday] morning.
“It may be prudent for the owners of the complex to have an engineer review their on-site underground drainage system to determine if improvements are needed. Upsizing pipes or constructing a storm water retention pond may help lessen the problem in the future.”
Lisa Schwartz, regional property manager for Nusbaum Realty, additionally said that work was recently completed, after two engineers were consulted, to fix a patio-flooding issue behind the rental office and adjoining apartments.
She said the fix worked, but residents report that outside the rear of their apartments remains damp and soggy in dry conditions.
“The only thing we can honestly do is to stay on top of the city,” Schwartz said, before adding that the company would “take care” of College Square residents.
“Whatever they need we will be taking care of, and we will be doing anything we can to prevent it happening again,” she said.