Washington is working with some residents to find solutions to their flooding and drainage concerns.

Those concerns were voiced at the City Council’s Nov. 14 meeting by Iron Creek resident Charles Daniels and Linda Witchell, an East 12^th Street resident. Daniels, as he’s done before, asked the city for help regarding drainage in the Iron Creek subdivision. Witchell wants the city to address a water problem under her home that she believes is caused by aging pipes that are part of the city’s drainage system.

During the council’s Dec. 12 meeting, City Manager Bobby Roberson provided an update on those requests to the council. He also provided an update on flooding concerns voiced by Katie Mosher and Carter Leary at a September council meeting. Mosher, who lives on East 12^th Street with her two children, made it clear she wants the city to immediately address the flooding issue. “Over the past eight years, I have watched as the flooding problem has gotten progressively worse,” she said in September. “Twice a year, every year without fail, I have to replace the duct work and insulation under my home because of flooding. … Not only is this expensive, it’s also getting harder and harder to find someone willing to crawl under my house.”

Leary, also an East 12^th Street resident, used several photographs to illustrate flooding problems and the drainage system in his neighborhood. Leary said better maintenance of that system would help alleviate flooding problems.

The four residents want the city’s help in helping them deal with flood and drainage issues.

“Katie Mosher has actually talked to me about that. She specifically would like for a buyout program. We’ve given her information on that,” Roberson said.

Under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “buyout” program, homeowners whose houses have flooded in the aftermath of major storms or hurricanes be seeking such buyouts. The buyout process is not a simple process, taking, on average, one to two years to complete. A buyout requires an agreement among a local government, the state and FEMA. Anyone seeking a buyout should know that many flooded properties do not qualify for buyouts, but properties that meet specific criteria may be eligible for buyouts.

Buyouts are voluntary occurrences. No one is required to sell his property. FEMA pays 75 percent of a buyout cost, with the remainder paid by the state and local governments.

“Linda Witchell is not interested in elevation (of her house) or the buyout. … She wants us, the city, to go on her property. She thinks, and she may be correct, we haven’t looked at it, we should find the (city’s) drainage pipes on there. She wants to plug those pipes up on her property, if we can identify them,” Roberson said. “I’m going to spend some time, again, with Miss Witchell on her front yard and take a look at it.

Two houses that Leary owns “are slab on grade” and eligible for the buyout program, according to Roberson.

As for flooding and drainage issues in Iron Creek, Roberson said, some homeowners have built structures across the city’s drainage easements in the subdivision. “In order for us to get to the rear of the properties, it’s important that they actually move those accessory buildings and encumbrances on the properties so that we can move forward and maintain the properties,” he said, adding that city officials plan to meet the Iron Creek homeowners association to discuss moving the structures, including fences, off the easements.