Hundreds of Essex residents say they’re fed up after suffering more basement flooding during the recent heavy rainfall.
For many Essex residents the sound of rain now brings a feeling of anxiety. Residents like Christine Dinney who says, “It starts to rain and your heart pounds, and you start to feel sick to your stomach."
Hundreds of Essex residents say they’re fed up after suffering more basement flooding during the recent heavy rainfall.
For many this marks the third time the sewer has backed up into their basements this year.
Dinney says they want action from the town to stop the flooding, “At least three times in the last year storms have ended with flooded basements and a curb full of trashed furniture...I'm at the mercy of the town, and mother nature and there's nothing I can do now."
She says she's taken preventative steps; repairs to the foundation, disconnecting the downspout, installing a check valve and two sump pumps. Still the issue persists.
Dinney says, "We've done everything possible. I'd love to see what the town's doing. It's very difficult. You feel helpless and powerless because there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop it from happening. I'm relying on someone to come in and help us. And I'm hoping it happens soon because I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Dinney is not alone. Hundreds of people have taken to the Facebook group 'Flooding in Essex' to share their stories, and put pressure on the town for answers.
But answers are what Essex Mayor Ron McDermott says he doesn't have yet, “They're fed up and I don't blame them. I can't sleep, worrying about these people. It's a shame, it is a shame."
McDermott says the town created a task force in the spring and hired an outside engineering firm, Stantec, to get to the root of the problem.
In the meantime, all residents like Christine Dinney can do is wait and hope for a solution.
Her plea, “Please help us, please stop the flooding in Essex. Give me back my home, give me back my power, don't make me feel so helpless all the time."
