Hamburg residents say they’ve spent thousands on flooding issues

HAMBURG, N.Y. (WIVB) — More than a dozen frustrated residents in the Village of Hamburg say they’ve been dealing with flooding issues. Some say they’ve lost thousands of dollars, and that their property is being damaged because of flooding. They came to the village board to ask why is this happening, and how can it be fixed.

“I’ve lost $10,000 worth of stuff in my house,” village resident Judy Hosie said. “I had to replace my washer. I had to replace my hot water heater.”

Hosie says she’s never had flooding issues at her home on Sharon Avenue until this past year. She’s had enough flushing money down the drain trying to solve it.

“There’s gotta be something that was done in the meantime that took me to a totally dry basement,” Hosie said. “No moisture, no anything to a foot of water in my basement. I don’t like having to worry about every time it rains, wondering what’s going to be destroyed next. I can’t afford to keep replacing these things.”

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Village resident Fred Rich has also spent thousands cleaning his basement after it was under four inches of water this month.

“I had to spend $3,000 getting it professionally cleaned because apparently, sewage is coming up through my floor drain because the system is overwhelmed,” Rich said.

Homeowners living on streets including Sharon Avenue, Randall Terrace and East Prospect Avenue said when it rains, this is what they have to deal with now.

One person said “Last Wednesday, we had 3 to 4 inches in the basement…We had things floating away.”

Residents feel like it’s an ongoing issue, that it’s not going away and they’re out of options.

Another person said, “I can spend 8 or $10,000 to do plumbing gymnastics…No matter how much money I spend, I can’t fix this problem.”

Village officials said there have been minimal complaints, but this is the first time they’ve had this outpouring of concern.

The village board says it plans on looking into this and working with the village engineer to come up with solutions. They’re hoping to have more answers than they had Monday night at the next meeting in two weeks.