• FLOODS of '08 VIDEO
Everyone was warned: winterize flood homes or face an even bigger disaster and now it looks as though many are suffering the consequences.
It's a story CBS 2 has been following for a while now. Foundations crumbling after the constant freezing and thawing during the winter months. Homes that were bad are now worse.
It is a site that can be seen all over the flood zone. Basement after basement some with walls just beginning to arc, others with big chunks missing. Either way the foundations are offering little support to the home and now neighbors say they are in need of some support as well.
"The problem is a lot of people didn't know what to do or just got frustrated and walked away for the time being,” says Lavern Burns.
Burns owns eight homes in CR, all of them now flood homes. Only one of the eight has a crumbling foundation. But Burns says it’s still a big problem because the city somehow gave the home a yellow placard. Burns says after the flood volunteers were too afraid to step foot in his home and he says quite frankly so is he.
"One time I was over there and tried to go into the basement. The stairs had washed out and there is about four or five inches of mud in the basement of that house."
The bottom line is both neighbors and Burns want the home taken care of. But in order for that to happen, Burns says the city really needs to come out and reevaluate flood damaged homes.
Because Burns’ home was left with a yellow placard it's not on the demo list and yet its foundation looks just like many of the other homes on his block that have already been torn down. Neighbors say they are glad the city is stepping up and working fast as the temps rise to raze many homes. But they say more needs to be done.
"They need to reevaluate see which ones are being worked on which ones are being fixed and which ones are being neglected," says Burns.
The city's code enforcement manager, Tim Manz, agrees with Burns. He says the city is out of date with their flood damage assessments. But Manz says the code enforcement department just does not have enough man power to go through and reassess ever single one of the flood damaged homes. The city will come out and reevaluate though on a case by case basis. They are asking for you to call them and let them know what homes need to be inspected.
CR Code Enforcement Office phone number: (319)286-5831Reassessing the Flood Zone
