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Flooding problems pit condo owners against county

Condo owners at Bradford Square are at their wit’s end about an ongoing problem that returns with the rain.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Some DeKalb residents are on pins and needles hoping their condo community won't flood again with more expected rain.

It’s a problem 11Alive has reported on over the years. But now residents say the situation is even worse than before and need the county to come up with a permanent solution – before their entire community becomes the next sinkhole.

“We have trees falling left and right,” explained Jerald Cassidy.

He told 11Alive’s La’Tasha Givens he and other condo owners at Bradford Square are at their wit’s end about an ongoing problem that returns with the rain.

“(It’s) Pretty frightening, because every time we have any rainfall of two inches now at one time, this creek rises up,” Cassidy explained.

When that happens, tilted trees topple into Peachtree Creek – or onto their property. As of two days ago, three pine trees pulled root balls up leaving a major hole here now. And from there, erosion begins. 

Images from 2015 showed the ground around a green dumpster that began caving in. Residents ended up filling the hole with cement themselves. 

Credit: WXIA

In the past four years, DeKalb County has come to clean out the culvert on at least two occasions. Residents say they were told the county is only responsible for 10 feet around culvert and the drainage pipes, and condo owners are responsible for the rest.

HOA president Marie Richardson, however, says residents should not be responsible and says they've tried everything to find a permanent solution.

“We've asked about the Army Corps of Engineers coming in and seeing if we could put some rocks or some other type of vegetation to help sustain or at least prevent some of the further erosion,” Richardson said. 

Residents said the Corps came in and added dirt to the landscape, but that too, has washed away.

“The insurance says, well, ‘you have to contact the county.’ The county says, well, ‘contact your insurance’,” Cassidy explained. “So, its just a back and forth.” 

Meanwhile, residents are hoping for a permanent solution to the issue, before it’s too late. 

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