GREENWOOD (KFSM)- The city has avoided the flooding problems we've seen in other parts of our area since the start of spring. Mayor Doug Kinslow said that's thanks to the improvements the city made to its creeks and drainage system.
“We had a couple of neighborhoods that were flooding [in 2004], and several homes were in danger, in fact we had water come in those homes, of course our citizens were in danger of losing everything they had, so it was determined that we needed to do something about it.
The video above shows flooding on Atlanta Street back in 2007. At the time, the City of Greenwood was working to clean up three of its major creeks.
“Westwood and Indian Hills that was really flooded back, there were several, I would say probably 20 to 30 homes that were affected pretty heavily with water coming into their homes, probably a foot or two,” Mayor Kinslow said.
Athena Frangos-Pasley has lived in the area since 1978.
“Well definitely it has improved,” she said. “We have an area that was completely flooded, the restaurants put a lot of people at risk, just with the flash flooding, and since we have the drainage system, that has greatly improved.”
“It feels great not to have that problem, not to have to worry about your citizens in danger of losing certainly there belongings, but more importantly their lives or their homes, there`s nothing more important than that,” Mayor Kinslow said.
While some flash-flooding is inevitable, residents in the Indian Hills subdivision say the water no longer gets into their homes.
“Definitely all of it is 100 percent better,”Frangos-Pasley said.
Mayor Kinslow said the work was all funded through a three-quarter-cent sales tax, that's now necessary to keep the creeks clean and to fund future improvements.
Renewing the three-quarter cent sales tax, part of which goes to the city’s street department will be up for a vote in November 2016.