ATLANTA — Neighbors and city workers spent Thursday cleaning up after heavy rain and storms tore through Atlanta, causing several roads to flood.
Those who live and work in some of the hardest hit areas told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco that they are tired of it.
Francisco went to businesses on the Atlanta Beltline who acknowledge that they are below street level, but argue poor drainage didn’t help as flood water rushed in.
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“People were basically trapped in there they couldn’t leave because the whole place was flooded,” neighbor Maria Okwuosa said.
Videos of flood damage are popping up on social media because of clogged drains, which neighbors say are safety concerns.
Okwuosa said she was stuck in a restaurant on Auburn Avenue on Wednesday.
Francisco saw patios still covered in mud and debris that shows how high water rose.
“This is not anything that’s new,” said Devin Barrington-Ward with the Black Futuristic Group.
He spoke up for workers who shared videos of stores and restaurants flooding in this portion of the Beltline from the past several years.
He argues that the city did not do enough to ensure drains were not clogged.
But the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management said that infrastructure is outdated and no matter how clear the drains were, rainfall like this would cause flooding.
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“Putting in new infrastructure and putting more storm drains, that’s what’s really needed here in Atlanta long-term,” Atlanta Watershed Commissioner Greg Eyerly said.
But people in the community say keeping an aging system clear is vital to safety.
“Make sure that our infrastructure we do have, given that it is aging, is maintained to the upmost degree so that way people are not in a situation where they are in a dangerous situation,” Barrington-Ward said.
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