Georgia homeowners concerned new development is flooding their property

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — Residents in Newton County are experiencing flooding issues.

They attribute these issues to a new subdivision being built earlier this year, Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln learned.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

“Behind my house I got a pond,” homeowner Daniel McCullum said.

McCullum says because of that, he hasn’t touched his patio furniture all spring and summer due to severe water runoff.

“It’s a constant flow of water,” he said.

“This can’t be healthy,” homeowner Catherine Collymore said.

“This is very frustrating,” homeowner association vice president Willard Johnson said.

Since January, after this new subdivision development broke ground on Kirkland Road in Covington and this retention pond was built directly behind residents’ home, neighbors say it becomes a constant flow of water.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Atlanta father, 2-year-old removed from plane after airline says they violated federal law
• GBI investigating shooting involving a police officer outside busy Publix
• Iconic metro Atlanta restaurant rumored to speed up baby deliveries closing after 40 years

“This is scary, going underneath the house,” Collymore said.

Neighbors told Channel 2 that whenever it rains, their back yard becomes a muddy mess.

Collymore says her fence has received extensive damage from the running water.

“We’ve been here 20 years no issues, we went through rainstorms, snowstorms, ice no issues ever until the building back there began,” she said.

Both say they’re already seeing the impacts to their property eight months later.

“It’s red all through here, all in our back yards, red clay dirt, and that is very scary,” Collymore said.

“The ground is very soggy,” McCullum said.

“No I don’t think that they’re taking it too seriously,” Johnson said.

Johnson says he reached out to Newton County leaders for help.

“I look at it like another five or six months if this water continues like this here, it’s just going to eat away at the foundation at the ground,” he said.

Channel 2 spoke with Newton County commissioner Alana Sanders, who said she’s been working closely with the county’s development services division.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Sanders said that county leaders told the developer of the subdivision Pulte Homes to make fixes to the pond, but residents say there’s been nothing permanent about this fix.

Sanders notes in an email to residents that county leaders stated before development that this wasn’t good land to build on.

Channel 2 sent Pulte an email for comment and we’re waiting to hear back.

“Hopefully they can get to a resolution of this problem and fix it,” Johnson said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Driver accused of deadly hit-and-run crash is on the run — three years after the crash

©2022 Cox Media Group