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Extreme flooding hurts local food pantry

Posted at 6:57 PM, Jul 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-20 06:58:31-04

McGregor Baptist Food Pantry has had flooding problems for six years due to clogged storm drains.

Rodger Hutchison has owned the property since 2011 and says the problem has been ongoing since he got here.  "It's frustrating. The city has the tools and resources to clean up the sewer drains and they're not doing it," said Hutchison.

On top of that, the overflow of water is causing the sewer to fill up and overflow into the city.

McGregor Baptist Food Pantry feeds around 600 families every month and the people in charge don't think this is fair to them.

The director of the food pantry, Bob Fain said, "Breaks my heart to bring them out into an area where they can't walk across the street without taking their shoes off."

Hutchison pays around $1,000 per year to the city for proper storm water drain, but he hasn't received any help.  "The city doesn't even return your calls or continues to delay something you're paying a lot of money for. It's taxation without any representation."

When we reached out to the city, the said they have no record of any indication that there was a flooding problem in this area. They say Public Works has now created a work order to clear out these drains to work properly.