Home Flooded Due To Blocked Drain
Donation protected
April 19th was going to be a relaxing, lazy Sunday. My wife and two kids (14 year old daughter and 11 year old son) planned on staying home under quarantine, watching movies, and listening to the sound of the rain falling outside.
Imagine our horror was we saw water pouring down the driveway and filling the carport faster than you could fill a bathtub, then making its way into our home, spreading throughout the house, and continuing to rise.
What caused this to happen? We've lived here 4 years and dealt with much stronger and longer storms than this with water never getting into the house - why now?!
A few weeks ago a construction company the Parish hired to do road and drainage work started working on 2 drains at the end of my driveway. On Friday they prepared to pour concrete around the drains. The problem is, they never cut holes in the plywood to allow the drains to continue to function, so they essentially disabled the drains with plywood and 2x4's and left for the weekend.
On Sunday it didn't take long for the basins to fill with water, considering the drains were blocked, so they spilled over into my yard and driveway, into my carport, and eventually in and throughout my house.
The Parish came to figure out why the drains weren't working and hours later someone from the construction company showed up and used a backhoe to tear a hole in the plywood blocking the drain, allowing the water to flow.
At first everyone was apologetic and helpful. The engineer from the Parish offered to write a statement detailing what he observed and what was done wrong that led to my house flooding. The owner of the construction company told me it was "an oversight" (not cutting a hole in the plywood so the water could drain) and that he would 'take care of us' and was 'sorry this happened to my family and I.' 24 hours later I couldn't get anyone on the phone from the Parish and the construction company was claiming no liability.
To be clear, my homeowners insurance won't cover this because it's water from OUTSIDE and a flood policy won't cover it because it's not a 'flood event' (at least 2 acres or 2 parties). In a situation as bizarre as this, it's the construction company's general liability insurance that has to pay for the damages. Unfortunately their insurance company has been less than helpful. As I type this, it's been a full week and they haven't sent out anyone to assess the damage and let us know what they plan to do. The last I heard they were "investigating to determine if they had any liability."
With the help of friends and family we've done as much as we can to minimize the damage, but we're going to have to (1) move our remaining belongings into storage (2) find and pay for temporary housing (3) replace clothes, shoes, and other essentials, and (4) hire a drywall professional to cut 24" from the bottom of the drywall to stop mold from spreading throughout the house.
In the end it will take much more than that for us to get back to where we were (flooring, baseboards, drywall, paint) but those are the critical items.
This couldn't have happened at a worse time with the coronavirus affecting our jobs and the unemployment system being overwhelmed and backed up. We should receive stimulus money at some point but don't know when yet.
Any donations are very much appreciated and will go towards the critical items listed above; moving and storage, temporary housing, replacing things like clothes & shoes, and stopping mold and mildew from spreading through the house.
Imagine our horror was we saw water pouring down the driveway and filling the carport faster than you could fill a bathtub, then making its way into our home, spreading throughout the house, and continuing to rise.
What caused this to happen? We've lived here 4 years and dealt with much stronger and longer storms than this with water never getting into the house - why now?!
A few weeks ago a construction company the Parish hired to do road and drainage work started working on 2 drains at the end of my driveway. On Friday they prepared to pour concrete around the drains. The problem is, they never cut holes in the plywood to allow the drains to continue to function, so they essentially disabled the drains with plywood and 2x4's and left for the weekend.
On Sunday it didn't take long for the basins to fill with water, considering the drains were blocked, so they spilled over into my yard and driveway, into my carport, and eventually in and throughout my house.
The Parish came to figure out why the drains weren't working and hours later someone from the construction company showed up and used a backhoe to tear a hole in the plywood blocking the drain, allowing the water to flow.
At first everyone was apologetic and helpful. The engineer from the Parish offered to write a statement detailing what he observed and what was done wrong that led to my house flooding. The owner of the construction company told me it was "an oversight" (not cutting a hole in the plywood so the water could drain) and that he would 'take care of us' and was 'sorry this happened to my family and I.' 24 hours later I couldn't get anyone on the phone from the Parish and the construction company was claiming no liability.
To be clear, my homeowners insurance won't cover this because it's water from OUTSIDE and a flood policy won't cover it because it's not a 'flood event' (at least 2 acres or 2 parties). In a situation as bizarre as this, it's the construction company's general liability insurance that has to pay for the damages. Unfortunately their insurance company has been less than helpful. As I type this, it's been a full week and they haven't sent out anyone to assess the damage and let us know what they plan to do. The last I heard they were "investigating to determine if they had any liability."
With the help of friends and family we've done as much as we can to minimize the damage, but we're going to have to (1) move our remaining belongings into storage (2) find and pay for temporary housing (3) replace clothes, shoes, and other essentials, and (4) hire a drywall professional to cut 24" from the bottom of the drywall to stop mold from spreading throughout the house.
In the end it will take much more than that for us to get back to where we were (flooring, baseboards, drywall, paint) but those are the critical items.
This couldn't have happened at a worse time with the coronavirus affecting our jobs and the unemployment system being overwhelmed and backed up. We should receive stimulus money at some point but don't know when yet.
Any donations are very much appreciated and will go towards the critical items listed above; moving and storage, temporary housing, replacing things like clothes & shoes, and stopping mold and mildew from spreading through the house.
Organizer
Aaron Hoyle
Organizer
West Monroe, LA