Greenville resident Paul Mathis issued out a notice meeting letter to the residents of Tampa Drive, Bayou Road, Oak Drive, neighboring streets and land/lot property owners to discuss flood concerns.
The meeting will be at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 17, at Greenville City Hall, 340 S. Main St., to talk with multiple agencies about the ongoing and unsafe conditions confronting flooding on the streets in that area.
Representatives from the City of Greenville, the Washington County Board of Supervisors, the Washington County Levee Board, the Greenville Public School District and the Washington County Drainage District will also be in attendance.
Mathis said the issues his town area faces have been occurring for at least 5-7 years.
“The flooding that we are complaining about has to do with water and drainage that is continuously coming in our yard from lots or houses behind our houses,” Mathis said.
“There has been, through governmental action and inaction, a devoid of planning, development and allowance of construction of housing and structures with no mandatory placement and size of culverts for adequate drainage for private property,” he said.
For some lots, particularly on Tampa Drive, there is nonexistent drainage with no culverts, which creates flooding and backwards flow of water on private property.
“The residents in that area also have yards and homes being flooded,” Mathis said.
There are virtually closed ditches on Tampa Drive, at Highway 82, including the east and west sides of Tampa Drive, up to Bayou Road and through to Main Street Extended.
“Most, if not all, the water flowing onto private property on Tampa Drive, Bayou Road, Oak Drive and neighboring streets, comes from the 16th section land owned by the Greenville Public School District.
“Also, as a contributing factor, culverts are broken, closed or have been removed. I also believe, on ‘credible information,’ there is an intentional release of levee water onto and under highway 82, directly flowing onto Oak Drive (across from Hwy 82) and onto the contiguous section 16th land,” Mathis continued.
These millions of gallons of water flow onto private property long after any rain and sits there as a reservoir until it overflows on private property again, in the slightest of rain of even an inch.
Mathis wants to stress to the residents in that area the importance of attending the meeting and expressing their concerns before matters become worse.
“It is clear to me that unless you make your voices heard, this issue will not be addressed,” Mathis said. “Given changes in land, construction and failing infrastructure, it is only a matter of time before the fall and winter is here again and this ongoing problem becomes irreversibly worse. This is not just a problem of rainfall.”
