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Heavy rains and flooding have cost one North Charleston family thousands of dollars in repairs. They say the whole street suffers from consistent water damage, and they want to see the city make changes to the drainage system.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Heavy rains and flooding have cost one North Charleston family thousands of dollars in repairs. They say their whole street suffers from consistent water damage, and they want to see the city make changes to the drainage system.
Jesus Mori and his wife have lived in their house on Ranger Drive since 2007. He says the flooding has cost them thousands of dollars out of pocket in damages.
“We have a lot of problems with the furniture; we replaced the carpet the first time it got wet,” Mori says. “I said we have to fix it with tile. The problem is cleaning up everything, replacing the kitchen cabinets.”
They have replaced flooring, cabinets and their air conditioning unit twice in the past 15 years, all from water damage.
“After a year there was a lot of rain, and a lot of water was going under the house,” Mori says.
The couple replaced an AC unit with water damage under the house for more than $3,000 soon after they moved in. Only a few years later, they say the flooding again caused so much damage they needed to replace the unit. This time, they say they spent $8,000 to put the system equipment in the attic.
He says the couple used to have flood insurance but after a few years the rates got so high, that they couldn’t afford to keep it and ended up paying for repairs out of pocket. Mori says the street fills with water too.
“No cars can drive in the street because the water is too high,” Mori says. “But the neighbors know, this time we decided we have too much damage and paid too much money. My neighbor says he’s called to the city too. The city says the last days had many calls with the same problems.”
North Charleston spokesperson Ryan Johnson says the Public Works department has had 24 work orders for Ranger Drive, just in the month of July, for drainage-related issues. All have been completed but five.
He says debris in the drains is the main culprit, and the city is working to clear them out. He reminds people to be mindful of littering and leaving garbage out, saying that will help in the future once the city clears the pipes.
“I wish this time it is fixed for the final time because it is a lot of trouble,” Mori says. He says the city told him workers will be in the neighborhood for the rest of the week finishing work orders and looking into the drainage system.
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