Flooding Caught On Tape

In the video, you’ll see amateur video shot by homeowner Jennifer Barnes on March 31st, 2009.

“I wanted to be able to document how intense, the water rising, the level, the rapid increase of water flowing through our back yard, just how extreme it can get,” says Jennifer. Barnes and her husband say they're being told by county engineers this is their problem entirely, that the county doesn't maintain ditches in the homeowners backyards.

“The ditch that the county does claim ownership of drains between this additional ditch between the houses in the subdivision,” says husband Alex Barnes. Homeowners here say this is just a full subdivision and it deserves proper drainage.

“They're draining essentially the neighborhood through my back yard, that's my contention,”
Ideally, water should flow from a pipe under Agee Road, around a yard, and through everyone’s back yards. The Barnes say there's too much water for a drainage ditch they say isn't properly maintained.

“Where it's supposed to run between two houses it's three to four inches deep in places heavily grassed,” says Alex. Flood waters overrun fences in the home movie. The Barnes say they just want to see this problem fixed.

“We have experienced this several times in the past month, it's not the first time it's happened but it just continues to get worse,” says Jennifer. They say the flooding damages their property and endangers their pets. We contacted mobile county commissioner Stephen Nodine. He says they'll address the concerns and look into it.