Runoff threatens Catlettsburg home

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June 16, 2009

By MIKE JAMES - The Independent The Daily Independent Tue Jun 16, 2009, 11:43 PM EDT

CATLETTSBURG — A Catlettsburg man claims runoff from heavy spring rain is eroding the hillside behind his house, and the flow is worse than ever because a street higher up the hill lacked a berm.

With no berm, water flowed from Mitchell Street straight down the hill instead of being directed into drains, James McKenzie said.

On Thursday night the runoff was so intense it collapsed a section of the hillside directly behind his house, McKenzie said.

McKenzie’s aging and patched-up mobile home is perched near the end of Wadkins Street. The hillside in the back still shows signs of the heavy runoff and fresh earth where part of the hill collapsed.

Earth and debris tumbled to within six inches of the house, and McKenzie is worried that another hard rain will bring down more of the waterlogged hill and wipe out the house.

The problem started a year ago when Mitchell Street was blacktopped and the berm was removed, said Mitchell, who has lived on Wadkins Street for 12 years. He lives there with his wife, Martha, and his 14-year-old grandson.

He and his wife live on Social Security and disability payments and can’t afford to move. “I haven’t slept in four days,” he said.

Whether there was a berm prior to the repaving is unclear, said public works director Pat Meade. If there was, it was a contractor who removed it, he said.

After Meade viewed the two streets, he had a berm installed on Mitchell Street. Whether that will solve McKenzie’s water aproblems remains to be seen. Various property owners in the Mitchell Street area have bulldozed and graded so the source of the excess runoff is difficult to pinpoint, Meade said.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com.

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