Flood Zone Fiasco: Family Fed Up After Seven Floods in Five Years
By: Marci Manley, KARK 4 News
Updated: March 18, 2013
A look at the cell phone video reveals only the top of a mailbox, outside a home in a Russellville subdivision.
"This was huge, and it's done that seven times in five years," said homeowner Brad Nieman.
Four feet of flash flood waters on Saturday, replaced by the whir of wind from fans that cover Nieman's living room floor Wednesday night.
"We're to the point where we're ready to move out," he said. "Each time it floods, it takes us at least four or five days to clean up. Every time it runs into the garage, floods the shop, and it's gotten into the house twice. It takes out our fence."
In the past five years his family's faced seven floods, leaving them feeling left out to dry.
"It's the worst this has ever been," said five-year-old Eli, his toys and bedroom furniture piled onto the bed off of water-logged floors.
"I've got kids. They're scared when it rains," Nieman said. "They're looking out the blinds to see if it's about to flood. And it happens just like that."
Nieman said he had no idea he was buying waterfront property. He's been a realtor for the past 12 years, and he thought he'd done his homework in 2007.
"The due diligence I did is I made sure it wasn't in the flood plain," he said. "We did the flood certification when I got the loan to build. We moved into the house and three months later, it was flooding like crazy."
The subdivision had been considered a flood zone before, but developers had rerouted a creek to build the Russellville development.
"When that water gets up, that creek remembers that this is its path right through here," Nieman said. "In my house."
In 2010, his home was annexed into the flood zone, but that doesn't keep his corner lot from resembling a lake every 260 or so days.
"If it rains, it's going to flood," he said. "I can either stay living here knowing that. Or I can cut my losses and move," he said.
He's had no luck pushing on the developer or builder to help clean up the mess.
"It's kind of like who is on first but absolutely no one is going to help me," he said.
The city is now aware of the problem and is working on a plan for a retention pond to help with the water flow. According to Public Works Director Michael Oakes, that should help alleviate some of the problem by cutting the flow by 50 percent.
"It should help whenever it gets built," Nieman said. "But I'm not going to stick around for another two or three years to find out."
Nieman's looking to possibly short sale his home and cut his losses before he goes under, knowing he'll likely lose and see no money on the backside from the initial investment in home ownership.
"I'm not going to be ahead after this. I'll see none of that money, and I'll be out of a home," he said. "But we just can't take it anymore."
He's speaking to KARK in hopes of warning others to do double duty on finding out about a property before you buy.
"Do all the research you can. I didn't learn about the creeks until I pulled out a FEMA map from 20 years ago. It was something that fell through the cracks for me, being a realtor I should have known," he said. "But you can't sit out in front of a lot you plan to buy for five months to wait for it to rain. So try to cover all your bases. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
"This was huge, and it's done that seven times in five years," said homeowner Brad Nieman.
Four feet of flash flood waters on Saturday, replaced by the whir of wind from fans that cover Nieman's living room floor Wednesday night.
"We're to the point where we're ready to move out," he said. "Each time it floods, it takes us at least four or five days to clean up. Every time it runs into the garage, floods the shop, and it's gotten into the house twice. It takes out our fence."
In the past five years his family's faced seven floods, leaving them feeling left out to dry.
"It's the worst this has ever been," said five-year-old Eli, his toys and bedroom furniture piled onto the bed off of water-logged floors.
"I've got kids. They're scared when it rains," Nieman said. "They're looking out the blinds to see if it's about to flood. And it happens just like that."
Nieman said he had no idea he was buying waterfront property. He's been a realtor for the past 12 years, and he thought he'd done his homework in 2007.
"The due diligence I did is I made sure it wasn't in the flood plain," he said. "We did the flood certification when I got the loan to build. We moved into the house and three months later, it was flooding like crazy."
The subdivision had been considered a flood zone before, but developers had rerouted a creek to build the Russellville development.
"When that water gets up, that creek remembers that this is its path right through here," Nieman said. "In my house."
In 2010, his home was annexed into the flood zone, but that doesn't keep his corner lot from resembling a lake every 260 or so days.
"If it rains, it's going to flood," he said. "I can either stay living here knowing that. Or I can cut my losses and move," he said.
He's had no luck pushing on the developer or builder to help clean up the mess.
"It's kind of like who is on first but absolutely no one is going to help me," he said.
The city is now aware of the problem and is working on a plan for a retention pond to help with the water flow. According to Public Works Director Michael Oakes, that should help alleviate some of the problem by cutting the flow by 50 percent.
"It should help whenever it gets built," Nieman said. "But I'm not going to stick around for another two or three years to find out."
Nieman's looking to possibly short sale his home and cut his losses before he goes under, knowing he'll likely lose and see no money on the backside from the initial investment in home ownership.
"I'm not going to be ahead after this. I'll see none of that money, and I'll be out of a home," he said. "But we just can't take it anymore."
He's speaking to KARK in hopes of warning others to do double duty on finding out about a property before you buy.
"Do all the research you can. I didn't learn about the creeks until I pulled out a FEMA map from 20 years ago. It was something that fell through the cracks for me, being a realtor I should have known," he said. "But you can't sit out in front of a lot you plan to buy for five months to wait for it to rain. So try to cover all your bases. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
