DeKalb rejects responsibility of flood-damaged home

DECATUR, Ga. — One DeKalb County neighborhood is dealing with a flood of troubles after a broken water main sent water rushing into at least one house.

People living on McCoy Street in Decatur say DeKalb County is not taking any responsibility for causing the big mess along their street.

Georgia's red clay now covers McCoy Street, making it look more like a dirt road than a paved one.

Michael Kunz is house-sitting for the owners of the home that was flooded.

"You can definitely smell it. There's a whole bunch of water," Kunz told Channel 2's Craig Lucie as he walked into the finished basement.

Most of the water's been removed with an air vacuum, but not all of it. The homeowner's band equipment was partly submerged in water, and their white-tiled bathroom is now red from clay.

Neighbors said after DeKalb County water crews hit the water main they were without water for eight hours.

"We couldn't take a bath and we couldn't cook anything. You don't realize how much you need water until you don't have it," neighbor Johnny Butler told Lucie.

Kunz said he showed water crews what happened at his friend's house and they said the flooding wasn't their fault.

"He (crew member) basically said these things happen. It was an act of  nature, like a bad  rainstorm," Kunz said.

Lucie contacted DeKalb County and a spokesman released a statement saying, "There was a water main break in this area, and the repair was completed. We investigated this claim and did not find evidence that the claim was caused by county actions."

The spokesman also told Lucie that since the house is not secure, it's not their problem that it flooded, regardless of the water source.

The homeowners told Lucie they get back in town Wednesday and they think it's "an outrage."

WSBTV