Thursday, March 26, 2009
April showers bring May flowers, and possibly more flooding.
According to the National Weather Service, increased rainfall, along with melting snow packed into the ground, makes the chance of flooding across the midwest higher than normal.
For students like Brandon Worley, Wichita junior, heavy rainfall can cause flooding outside and inside their homes.
“The last time the basement flooded it ended up being a quarter inch of water,” Worley said. “Everything on the ground was soaking wet.”
Brian Jimenez, city code enforcer, said landlords could take steps to help prevent home flooding, but sometimes it was something tenants would have to deal with. Jimenez said students renting homes that flood could still be proactive to lessen any damage to their property. He said older houses were more susceptible to flooding because of aging foundations, but all homes were at risk.
“Any time a tenant has a problem with a dwelling unit that is leaking or flooding they can call us,” Jimenez said. “There may not be much we can do, but we can make sure the dwelling gets appropriately cleaned.”
Because he and his roommates didn’t know what to do when their house flooded, Worley said the water sat in their basement and eventually dried up. Jimenez said students shouldn’t wait until standing water evaporated to solve any flooding issues, and instead should call their landlord to dry out the home.
“Water gets stagnant,” Jimenez said. “You never know what’s in the basement. It’s just not sanitary.”
Jimenez said landlords should make sure their property’s downspouts were directed away from the house to keep water from the gutters away from reaching the foundation. Proper draining around a home isn’t foolproof protection from flooding though, Jimenez said. Worley said heavy rainfall found other ways of getting into his home.
“I could see where the water had been leaking in at from cracks in the side of the house,” Worley said. “If it does it again we will probably tell the landlord.”
Jimenez said the best way for students to prevent home flooding from damaging property was to purchase renter’s insurance and use common sense. Students shouldn’t store valuable items in unfinished basements, for example, without taking steps to make sure water can’t reach them, Jimenez said.
Mitch Jones, Burlington junior, said he practiced with his band in a friend’s unfinished basement. After a heavy rainfall, Jones said their practice space flooded and the standing water in the basement could have cost him as much as $1,000 to replace his amp and bass guitar. Jones said he was lucky his equipment was not damaged, but he and his band made sure they didn’t leave their gear where water could get to it.
— — Edited by Melissa Johnson
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