Clogged storm drains and faulty pipes caused a myriad of drainage issues during a storm on July 17 across Truesdale, according to Mayor Jerry Cannon. 

The issues were a main topic of discussion at the board’s July 24 meeting. Cannon had requested that affected residents attend the meeting to discuss how they were impacted. 

Several residents from the Heritage Hills neighborhood were in attendance however, they were far from the only ones impacted. 

Cannon said the first call he received for flooding on the 17th was to several homes on North Water Street. 

“There was water coming off the street into their yard like a waterfall,” Cannon said. 

He also said there were significant issues with culverts clogging along South Street which worsened the issues across town. 

According to Cannon, the worst of the damage was at Heritage Landing. He said there were two inlets for storm drains blocked in Cynthia Drive that led to significant erosion. 

Apparently the overflow was in part, due to a deviation by a contractor from the approved plans for the neighborhood according to Cannon. 

Originally there were supposed to be two flows for stormwater through the neighborhood, although Cannon said it seemed some corners had been cut and there was only one way for the water to go. 

The increase in volume, along with some shoddy materials caused the collapse of one of the pipes serving the area, which the city in conjunction with T.R. Hughes and Semke Grading and Pipe Works, are in the process of repairing. 

“They also put in very inferior material, and they also did not put the proper amount of rock underneath that material,” Cannon said. “So that pipe has collapsed.”

He continued saying the city had been working with developer T.R. Hughes to find an amenable solution to the repairs. Unfortunately the contractor originally responsible for the work, Rust Construction, is no longer in business, leaving no one to be held accountable. 

Instead, the city along with T.R. Hughes, will be contracting with Semke for roughly $10,000 to repair 145 feet of pipe near the subdivision at a significantly discounted rate.

“T.R. Hughes has come up with a plan for Semke to do that work for us, which, it’s about 145 feet of pipe that needs replaced,” Cannon said. “And they’ll be replacing them with the right kind of pipe with the right kind of rock underneath to make it stable.”

Cannon continued saying that, dependent on weather, he expected the work would be completed some time in the next couple weeks.