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Basements Flood Again, Residents Want Solution: 'They Gotta Do Something'

DENVER (CBS4)- For the second time in as many weeks, some residents of Park Hill are upset after heavy rains caused street flooding that damaged their homes.

"We can't stop it. It's going into his house. There's nothing you can do about it," said resident Andre Payne as he took cell phone video of the water rushing down the stairwell and into his friend's lower level apartment.

As severe storms on Wednesday evening once again brought heavy rain, hail and wind to the Denver metro area, it caused destructive flooding in homes along 33rd and Olive Street.

flooded basement
Flooded basement at 33rd and Olive (credit: Andre Payne)

"The front here was full of water, that's why the bucket is here. I bailed it all out," said flood victim Eric Olguin.

Water measured in feet, not inches, as it filled the northeast Denver neighborhood and flowed over retaining walls built by some homeowners to stop the water.

"It just washes over like a wave," said Payne.

Residents are growing frustrated. They say it's not just a problem in the past two weeks but something they've been dealing with for decades.

"They just refuse to do anything about this. The drainage they have here, the water actually comes out of the drains when it rains hard," said Olguin.

olive street flood
Flooding on Olive Street (credit: Jeanne Shulze)

The City of Denver said they are aware of the storm drain problem and are in the process of designing a solution but that could take years before it actually becomes a reality.

"They gotta do something. I don't care if they drop off sandbags, dig holes, potholes, build concrete walls, drains, they have to funnel something. It has to go somewhere. It just can't go into people's homes," said Payne.

The city told CBS4 that more than $1.4 billion worth of storm drain repairs is needed around Denver. While the Park Hill neighborhood is a priority zone, Denver Public Works said the specific section is "not currently in our fiscally-constrained six year storm capital improvement program."

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