Flooding is a Big Problem
in North Tonawanda
Read more about the latest flooding event in North Tonawanda in 2005: http://www.speakupwny.com/article_1977.shtml
Read the TV news on these flooding events here.
North Tonawanda has a serious problem with inadequate sewers. The easiest evidence of it can be seen when the pump unit is set up at Walck and Nash Roads to bypass the sewage treatment plant during rainstorms. City officials keep adding houses to the sewer system without adding downstream capacity or addressing problems in existing neighborhoods.
These are long-standing problems. Click below for the Klydel Wetland area:
Go to northern Klydel flooding.
Forward to western & central Klydel flooding.
Forward to southern Klydel flooding.
Learn how filling wetlands with houses causes flooding.
By Jay Skurski / [email protected]
Saturday, September 11, 2004 - Tonawanda News
Things were mostly back to normal Friday for most North Tonawanda residents following the torrential rain ushered in by the remnants of Hurricane Frances.
For Witmer Road residents, though, the downpours served only as a reminder of an ongoing nightmare.
�My whole house smells like raw sewage,� said Kim Lorich, a resident of 492 Witmer Road.
Lorich said her basement was filled with a foot of water Thursday, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
�I still don�t know if my washer and dryer are working, so the damage might be even higher,� she said.
Lorich�s 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, spent Friday afternoon washing her Barbie dolls off while her mother tried to determine what was salvageable.
�All of our decorations and most of her toys are all ruined,� Lorich added.
For the members of the Witmer in Need committee, Thursday�s flooding was just another episode in what seems like an inescapable cycle of problems.
�I don�t even know if it�s worth making improvements to my basement anymore because whenever it rains, it floods,� said Melissa Mawhinney of 540 Witmer Road.
Pat Getz, who lives at 534 Witmer Road, said many of her neighbors have complained of structural problems with their basements.
�Every time it rains the water gets closer and closer to our homes,� she said.
According to W.I.N. members, trying to get help from elected officials has proven difficult.
First ward Alderman Russ Rizzo said a meeting will be held with state Sen. George Maziarz, R- North Tonawanda, City Engineer Dale Marshall, the Common Council, Mayor David Burgio and the W.I.N. committee to discuss how much a solution will cost.
Rizzo toured the flooded area with residents Thursday afternoon to view the extent of the damage.
�It was the worst I�ve ever seen it,� he said.
A date for that meeting, however, hasn�t been set, and residents feel like they�re being pushed to the back burner.
�I fear the council is stalling on seeing us,� Mawhinney said.
According to Common Council President Brett Sommer, the budget crisis in NT makes fixing infrastructure problems difficult.
�I understand what the residents are going through. It�s just not easy to come up with the money it would take to solve some of these problems,� Sommer said.
Mawhinney and Lorich understood the situation the city was in, but they wondered how much longer they could suffer the damages to their homes.
�I don�t know how much longer I can afford to live here,� Lorich said.
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