PETERSBURG, Va. – Petersburg neighbors reached out to the CBS 6 Problem Solvers and said that a flooding issue has gotten progressively worse over the years.
"Yes, I'm upset because it's ruining our property,” said Bertha Cunningham.
"If we get a good rain, I got trouble,” said Michael White.
Bertha Cunningham has watched her backyard flood way too many times.
"Well we've been having problems for a while, but for the last couple of years it's been flooding so bad when it rains, every time we have a hard rain it just floods all down through the yard,” she said.
Neighbors said that six to 12 inches of water gets trapped in some yards.
"It ends up in our backyard to the point it's about a foot to a foot and half deep,” said Carey Renninger.
To try and stop water damage, Renninger put metal around his deck and shed.
Many of the neighbors have property that backs up to the Petersburg National Battlefield.
"I mean it's fun to have it, it's good to look at the animals but at the end of the day, it's getting to the point where it floods our yard out,” Renninger said.
Many of those whose yards flood want the Battlefield Park to clean up, and said especially the ditches.
"What would make me happy is for them to put a drain or something back there in the park so the water would run down that way instead of running in our yard,” Cunningham said.
Lewis Rogers, Superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield, said the area is so flat because it lies in a natural flood plain.
"I think one of the things that hurts me is when I hear people say it's the parks fault,” Rogers said
Part of the issue is also where too much water tries to go through too small a city drainage pipe.
"What we have down here -- we've created a ditch here, a ditch here, there's a school over behind here -- that naturally has water flowing down from the school and it all funnels down to this point and it basically can't handle the volume."
We reached out to the City of Petersburg for a comment but have not heard back.
Those living in this area are encouraged to attend a meeting this Tuesday at the Petersburg Cty Library, starting at four.
The flooding issue will be addressed as well as information about a possible grant that could help alleviate the problem.
Reach out to Problem Solvers
