ELYRIA, Ohio — Residents in Elyria are cleaning up after a round of torrential rain swept through the area Sunday evening leading to flash flooding. The intense storm overwhelmed drainage systems causing them to backup into some homes.
From up above some neighborhoods in Elyria, you can see the rainwater from Sunday evening's storms isn't completely gone. It is much lower than waht residents were facing when storms rolled through.
Online video showed floodwaters at the doorstep of many residents who were not expecting this amount of rain all at once.
At Debbie Boyd's home, the water made it inside. Several inches took over her basement. “When it’s like that, it’s telling me it’s running off the battery and everything to try and keep up. It’s letting us know it can’t keep up with it," she says.
The city of Elyria says the storm dropped four to five inches of rain in less than an hour, according to rain gauges spread throughout the city. Rain that was enough to overwhelm drainage systems.
For Jesse Holloway, it wasn't floodwaters in his basement, it was wastewater backup. "Our drains were just pushing water back up from the street into the basement," he explains.
The basement is where Holloway kept thousands of dollars worth of music equipment. Much of it was destroyed before he could try to save it. "I haven't even assessed," he adds. "It's been pretty much a cleaning game at this point. I felt safe putting my stuff down there, I guess I was wrong."
Joyce Roberts called her insurance company, who responded by telling her to take pictures of any damage. But that's not what she needs. Water collapsed her outdoor basement stairs. The 75-year-old is getting chemotherapy for her lymphoma and knows she can't stay in her home. Yet, Roberts doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her.
"I don't want sorry. I want my insurance to pay for what I paid for and not keep saying I have to come up with extra money here, extra money there," she says.
Roberts can't clean. Her illness won't allow her to take in the fumes, which is why she needs her insurance to help. After all, it's what she paid for.
"Everything I've done and paid for to make sure I had a healthy home didn't matter," she adds.
The city responded to more than 80 homes and businesses to assist residents with flooding issues, but calls continue to come in. Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield acknowledged the aging wastewater system, as residents look for a place to lay blame.
"When you’re working with older systems, you deal with challenges like this. I want to say their drains aren’t equipped to take that much rain as they should be able to. But who am I to say? I don’t know," Whitfield says.
In the coming days, the city of Elyria will hold a roundtable to answer questions for residents about this round of flooding. Until then, people who have been affected are asked to contact the wastewater department to make a flood report. You can also call 440-366-2211. The department also suggests disinfecting any areas in the home affected by floodwater.
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