Residents all over the city of Soddy-Daisy are having issues with flooding every time it rains, and they've been expressing their frustration at the City Commission's past three meetings at what they see as a lack of action by city, state and federal agencies.
Several creeks in the city are changing course after major floods, overtaking property and putting homes in danger, and residents said they want to see a flood mitigation plan in place before another high water event occurs.
Tiffany Winton, who lives in the 11300 block of Dayton Pike, expressed concern at the May 7 meeting about how city officials have handled flooding along Little Soddy Creek. She said she was never informed of the Federal Emergency Management Agency buyout program for which she and neighbors affected by flooding from the creek are eligible.
Rocks, silt and other debris run down the creek bed and into her yard and the yards of her neighbors. Winton said her home has flooded twice in the past 18 months because the eroded creek isn't able to absorb heavy rains. The creek was at one time 6 feet deep, but now it's only about one foot deep because of all the debris in the creek bed, she said.
City Manager Janice Cagle said the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation only allows the city to remove trees from the creek and not other debris.
Ashley Guffey, who lives in the 300 block of Ducktown Street next to Little Soddy Creek, said the city needs to do a flood study on all the city creeks, and Cagle said at the June 4 meeting that she plans to meet an official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "as soon as he's allowed to leave Nashville."
Cagle said the city is using funds from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service grant awarded to the city for an Emergency Watershed Protection Program project that involves stabilization work on the Little Soddy Creek bank in seven areas, but those funds cannot be used for flood mitigation.
The 75-25 matching grant from NCRS is for $428,000, with the city contributing $107,000, Cagle said.
Barry Higgins of Higgins Construction was awarded the NRCS stabilization project based on his low bid of $257,649. He said that in places along the creek where there are buildings, crews will remove existing rock and put down a geotextile mat and 2- to 3-feet of riprap to deflect the water away from the buildings.
Frank Seymour said his son, Chad Seymour, recently moved to the 200 block of Pine Street near North Chickamauga Creek. Flooding on Easter Sunday destroyed his son's property and came within an inch of destroying his home, he said.
"That flood moved that creek," Frank Seymour said. "It's now closer to Pine Street than it ever has been."
He compared the fear he and his family have of flooding to post traumatic stress disorder and is concerned about a tropical storm he said was predicted to come through the area this week.
"The situation you have down there is a freak situation," said Shipley, adding that the man who lived in Seymour's home previously for 52 years never had an issue with flooding.
Sandra Hayes, who lives across the street from Chad Seymour, said the creek took out a piece of her land following a 2018 flood that killed one woman and forced dozens of others from their homes. After the most recent flood on Easter Sunday, her house is now right on the edge of the creek.
Cagle said emergency management officials looked at Hayes' home, and it could be eligible for a buyout using federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds.
R.T. Clemens, who lives in the 400 block of Ducktown Street, said he's lost 40 to 50 feet of his land to Little Soddy Creek.
"That land now is pretty much Little Soddy Creek," said Mayor Geno Shipley. "You can't get that land back."
He said city officials are hoping to do more stabilization work to stop the creek from overtaking more of his land. They are currently doing engineering for another project in which barriers would be installed to stabilize the creek. Shipley said he spoke with Hamilton County Tax Assessor Marty Haynes, and when the barriers are installed the county will reduce Clemens' property taxes to reflect the land lost.
In response to a question from Guffey, Shipley said the city did not include any funds specifically for flood mitigation measures in its upcoming annual budget, but there is money in the general fund that could be used for such measures if needed.
Guffey complained that she and her neighbors are constantly having to pump their septic tanks and dig new fill lines because they fill with gravel and silt from the creek and asked if it would be possible to run a sewer line down the road. Shipley said the WWTA would be responsible for sewer installation.
Higgins, whose company installs septic tanks, said running sewer down Ducktown Street would cost the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority $300,000 to $400,000.
Cagle said she met with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency on June 4 and planned to meet with the Southeast Development District on Tuesday to get help applying for federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for properties affected by flooding from Little Soddy Creek as well as for Haynes' issue on North Chickamauga Creek.
Cagle said she plans to apply for a grant that will go toward stabilizing all of the creeks in the city, but she is working to acquire a separate grant to fund the buyout of Haynes' home - which is in imminent danger of going into the creek - in an attempt to expedite that work.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.