Charlotte Neighbors Ask For Solutions In Flood-Prone Area

Residents in south Charlotte live in a flood-prone area and want to stop worrying every time it rains.

Rick Aldridge lives along Montford Drive in south Charlotte.

He said, "My wife kind of freaks out. And I think it's the 'man thing'-- where you wake up and you want to protect your family."

Eyewitness News met Charlotte city councilman Andy Dulin along Little Sugar Creek this afternoon. He represents that part of town. He wants Mecklenburg County, which controls the creek, to fix the problem once and for all.

Dulin said, "I didn't sleep last night thinking about it."

Eyewitness News asked a storm water manager, Tim Trautman, why the county isn't doing more to fix the problem. He said the water doesn't usually flood people's living spaces, but it does flood their garages and crawl spaces. As a result, it is not the county's top priority.

"It makes them, number one, a little bit of a lower priority because we're trying to balance where we go and fix problems and, number two, it allows us not to be to able to leverage federal dollars to come in and possibly offer buyouts,” Trautman said.

Trautman still promises to look for solutions like digging out the creek bed.