Family says century-old property is turning into swamp, blames county

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A woman told Channel 2 Action News the property her family has owned for more than 100 years is turning into a swamp, and that the county is to blame.

Melissa Duke said she would love to have a pool, but the water on her property is not what she had in mind.

She said the big swamp used to be a very small creek.

"It's awful," Duke said. "You can’t really be out back because this is what you have to look at.”

Duke said with each passing year, the swamp gets a little bigger.

"The water continues to rise on my property. That's a big, huge issue for me," she said.

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Duke blames the problem on Paulding County. She said the county installed a new sewer line next to her home in Hiram in 2007.

“Messed up the ecological system. They did something. Took down all the trees, moved the dirt around, put in the pipe. Something happened," Duke said.

Neighbor Ralph Clark told Channel 2 Action News he saw the same thing.

"It was fine until they put a sewage line through here," Clark said.

Duke showed Channel 2's Justin Wilfon a picture from 1915 that shows a little boy standing in the yard of her more than 100-year-old home with nothing but dry land behind him.

"It was just green trees. The grass went down about 40 or 50 more feet," Duke said. "It's turned into a snake pit, mosquito den, beavers, groundhogs. The turtles and the cranes are very loud."

The woman said she's contacted the county for several years and received few answers.

When Wilfon called the county, a spokesperson told him they will look into the problem and send a team to look at the swamp right away.

Duke hopes they can solve her growing problem.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing them," Duke said.

She said she would like to see the county drain the swamp, and maybe put some gravel in -- whatever it takes to get rid of it.

Cox Media Group