The Flood Co Cleans Up Unexplained Ogden Utah Flooding

(Newswire.net — August 12, 2015) Centerville, UT –On Douglas Street in North Ogden, Utah, one family is on a twenty-four hour water pumping schedule. Their home has been filling up with water since June 28th and no one has any idea why. To combat the problem, the family mans a pump every half hour. The water flooding their basement is pumped out at a rate of 500 gallons an hour and there is no end in sight.

 

Home owner Jessica Smith states that they family was getting ready to put the home up for sale. To that end, they had just invested $10,000 in a basement project that was meant to make their home stand out on the market. Unfortunately, the water that is continually flooding into their recently finished basement is making their home a standout for all the wrong reasons. No one knows what is causing the problem or when it will end.

Their next door neighbor feels their pain. That home is also regularly being flooded and the family is doing all that it can do to get the water out and minimize the extend of the damage. Neither family wants to be in this position but there is little that they can do. Except, of course, for keep on running the water pumps and removing the constant stream of water from their homes.

 

The city believes that the problem stems from the fact that there were heavy rains in the month of May. They believe that there is too much ground water in the area where these homes sit and that the water has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, it is heading into the wide open spaces of the basements of these two homes. It is hard to believe that ground water can do so much damage.

 

The families do not believe that too much ground water is the problem. They argue that neither of these homes is sitting in a flood plain. And, they have never heard of ground water suddenly increasing in an area and causing a problem quite like this before. The fact that the water just keeps rushing into their homes is, say both of these families, a good reason to believe that the source of the problem is something else.

One thing that everyone can agree on is that the water flooding into these homes is not caused by any problem or plumbing deficit from inside of the houses. While that may seem like very good news, there is a very serious financial drawback for the families. Since the homes are not located in a flood plain, both of the families’ insurance companies are refusing to cover the cost of damage. This determination means that they have to cover the cost of pumping and future restoration out of their own pockets.

 

Because the problem has gone on for so long, they have petitioned for help from a variety of agencies. They know that there has to be a cause and they have contacted city engineers, the Weber Water Basin, and plumbers trying to find out what the source of the problem is. So far, no one has been able to come up with any answers.

 

Last Thursday, engineers came out from the Utah Geological survey to do some tests. They were joined by an expert from a private company. They surveyed the land and told the families that their houses were built on a geological formation known as an alluvial fan. These fans are formed from the sediment deposited by rivers and streams.

 

It is possible that an underground source of water may have been diverted and is now flooding into the basements of these two unfortunate families living on Douglas Avenue. Other theories include the existence of a water leak at some other location. Once the water has entered the residences, it would have already combined with existing ground water. Any tests on the water would give the result that ground water was the source of the floods.

There are 18 homes affected by the unexplainable floods of water that are pouring into their homes. Every family member is taking a turn at pumping out the water to protect their houses and their financial investment. If something isn’t figured out soon, the families have little hope. Options are running out.

Each time the families believe they will finally get some answers; their hopes go down the drain. The problem has lasted for more than 40 days and shows no sign that it will resolve at any point in the near future. The flooding started on June 28, 2015 and most people that it would quickly end. That did not happen.

 

Homeowners describe sections of their homes as having a river running through it. This steady stream of water has to be removed or the risk of mold and other contaminants will make the houses unsafe for people to live in. Two hydrologists, water experts, came to the street to see if they could figure out what was going on in this Utah neighborhood. They were hoping to test the water and find out what the source was.

Instead of getting answers to their questions, residents only learned about more unanswered questions and are no closer to a resolution than they were before the experts arrived. While ground water has never before caused this type of flooding, it is not impossible. If, on the other hand, the floods are caused by a leak in the system that is mixing with the ground water, then there might be some hope in sight. The big problem would be in locating the leak and getting it fixed.

 

They hydrologists recommended that the neighborhood hire a geotechnical firm to do further research. Those additional tests would have to be paid for by the families affected since there is no coverage available from insurance companies or government agencies. Since residents have already paid out thousands of dollars for water removal and other tests, the situation is causing a great deal of stress for those affected.