Cole County residents share storm water concerns

Cole County commissioners agreed Tuesday morning to investigate the vulnerability of the county’s storm water infrastructure.

“A lot of it happened last fall and last summer flooding of some houses and some area that were maybe kind of low-lying and the water levels of creeks in their backyards tend to back up,” said Eric Landwehr of Cole County Public Works.

The commission heard from residents in their meeting Tuesday about their concerns after the floods of Summer/Fall 2016.

“We’ve had a flooding problem over the years and it just continues to get worse,” said David Hunter, a resident of the Apache Flats neighborhood. “The water’s coming up to the buildings.”

Sam Bushman, presiding commissioner, told ABC 17 News the county is limited with the amount of funds it can provide from the capitol improvement sales tax as that revenue must be stretched over its five-year life.