Chesterfield woman, neighbors seek answers on continuous flooding issues

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) - A Chesterfield woman says she’s been drowning in drainage problems every time there’s a downpour.

Allison Osisek says her property consistently floods. Despite her repeated calls for help, she feels ignored by the county.

That’s why she reached out to 12 On Your Side’s investigators for help.

Osisek says she’s spent thousands of dollars repairing the damage from the years of constant flooding.

She refuses to spend any more money.

“This whole area was submerged,” she said. “You can see all the water. I was up on my deck.”

Osisek doesn’t own a waterfront property.

“There was water all the way from this back fence to my back door, which is right here,” she said, showing where the water was.

Every time there’s a significant downpour, this is what she sees.

“It was a river that was basically running through here a number of years ago,” Osisek said.

She says she had put in a dry creek bed to retain the water, but during downpours, it can’t hold all of it.

Osisek walked through her Chesterfield property of almost 19 years, which is already on low ground, saying that with each major storm, the ditch in front of her home and the culvert two lots overflows.

She says it’s an issue that happens several times a year.

“These storms happened, like four days in a row,” she said.

Osisek says the problem got worse about four years ago when Reams Elementary School, across the street, was reconstructed.

Since then, every time it rains, it literally pours.

“It washes this way under Reams Road into this culvert here. And what happened during this last event? As you can see, all this vegetation has washed over this culvert, overflowed. It all came rushing down this way,” Osisek said.

She says water was coming out of the culvert, around two houses behind a fence and right into her backyard.

“That fence over there, you can see where it cracked that tree; that fence was pulled over so far,” she said.

Osisek’s nearby neighbor, 71-year-old Bob Harbottle, he also been impacted.

He says after the last major storm, his entire home was surrounded by water.

“The water here was coming very fast across here, across the corner of my house,” he said. “So that, yeah, eight inches and moving into the sewer pipe right there.”

Osisek says she and her neighbors have spent months making phone calls, emailing and contacting the Virginia Department of Transportation and Chesterfield County, demanding a permanent fix.

She says she was told there were more pressing priorities.

With no signs of a solution, Osisek called 12 On Your Side.

“I just don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. And this is one of my last options,” she said.

VDOT and Chesterfield County told 12 On Your Side in a joint statement that they’ve already taken steps to improve drainage on Osisek’s property.

They said they’ve also agreed to do a survey to help with further evaluation.

They said the survey results came back on Aug. 20, and they “are in the process of evaluating options.”

When asked how specifically they’ll ensure the drainage systems are functioning properly, officials said, “That will be determined as options are evaluated.”

As for Osisek, her problems are far from over, but she hopes with 12 On Your Side’s help, this is a good start.

“I’ve put a lot of money and effort into trying to make this my home,” she said. “And I don’t want somebody else’s lack of responsibility to continue to damage my property that I work hard for every day.

VDOT and Chesterfield have not given a timeline for when the repairs will be made.

“At this time, it’s too soon to tell,” officials said.