GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga.,None — Channel 2 Action News has learned Gwinnett County is waiting on federal grant money to demolish homes that were flood-ravaged in 2009.
Neighbors on Riverside Drive, along the Yellow River, said one home in their neighborhood has been rotting ever since.
Channel 2s Kerry Kavanaugh asked county officials why nothing has been done to remove the homes.
"It's getting continually worse, as you might expect. The longer something sits there like that. It's slowly rotting," neighbor Liz Gooch told Kavanaugh.
Gooch and her family live across the street. She said it was a tragedy to watch her neighbors lose everything.
"You could see the water was already up to the roof," Gooch said.
But, now the neighborhood is suffering.
"The doors have been opened. Some of the windows have been broken. Clearly, somebody or something is going on over there that you would rather not have happen on your street," Gooch said.
Kavanaugh called Gwinnett County to find out why two years later the dilapidated home is still sitting there.
An emergency management spokesperson said the home on Riverside Drive is one of 11 properties the county deemed in the flood way after 2009.
The county will not allow owners to rebuild in those areas.
Instead, they want to mitigate and tear down the homes using emergency management grants.
Local emergency management Director Greg Swanson said the county received approval for grant money from Georgia Emergency Management in March.
He said they filed application with FEMA right after that and are still waiting for a response.
"It would be a way to finally clean up and fix the damage that happened here," Gooch said.
Kavanaugh wasn't able to track down the owner of the property, but county officials said all of the property owners volunteered to be a part of the grant program.
They have waited six months so far to hear back from FEMA.
At this point, Gwinnett County does not know how much longer they might have to wait.