At least 10 people were displaced after a blocked storm drain flooded a Mid-City apartment building during Tuesday’s heavy rains.
Residents described the water near the building, located in the 4200 block of 48th Street, as high as the windows on their cars. The water was moving fast enough to move parked cars and even a heavy dumpster.
One resident’s pet Chihuahua, trapped behind a retaining wall, even drowned in the high waters.
“The water just clogged everything so then all the neighbors came out they say oh my god everything is flooded,” resident Jeff Tong told NBC 7. “One woman said ‘my house, my cat, my dog' – you know one of the dogs died.”
Tong lives in a second floor apartment, but both of his cars were parked in the complex parking lot when the rains came.
Tong said his two cars and a dozen more were flooded by the storm. Another dozen apartments and single family homes have water damage. Residents can’t start cleaning up until the water recedes.
Water poured into Ernestina Baker's first floor apartment. She was sleeping on the sofa, and didn't realize it until she sat up and put her feet on the floor.
Local
“Water was just gushing in – just gushing in, and I looked outside. It was all up to the tires,” Baker explained. “The water was all over. You couldn't see the yard; You couldn’t see anything. I got kind of nervous I didn't know what to do. I was here by myself. I didn't have no one to help me.”
Witnesses said the storm drain on the west side of 48th street simply could not handle the deluge. There were no reported injuries.
