CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – On Memorial Day, Candace Payne woke up to find her basement filled with murky water. “I walked down the first set of stairs, and as soon as you turn to go down the second set, you see nothing but water,” Payne said.
The downstairs bathroom, utility room, bedroom and living room were heavily damaged, and Payne’s aunt, who had been living in the basement, lost all of her belongings. After already investing $110,000 into renovating the house on Elberta Drive before the flood, it would now cost Payne an additional $186,000 to make repairs, including excavation around her property and foundation.
It was once her dream home, but Payne is now asking the city to condemn the house, bulldoze it, and stop anyone else from ever building there again.
“It’s only going to get worse; it’s going to continue happening, it’s going to be more devastating,” she said. “On top of that, who can afford to stay in their home and keep repairing it when they know it’s going to flood?”
Following Clarksville Now coverage of the flooding on Love Street off Trenton Road, Payne was one of several homeowners who reached out to express some of the same concerns with their own properties. The complaints have raised several questions, including whether flooding disclosures are required, or is flooding a matter of buyer-beware? Why is building allowed on properties known to retain storm water? And where does local government’s responsibility fall in this, if at all?
Shouldn’t buyer know of flooding?
According to residents, Elberta in northwest Clarksville has flooded for years, but that wasn’t brought to the attention of Payne when she purchased the house in 2020.
“Flooding was never disclosed to me, and I recently discovered my house has flooded several times in the last 20 years,” Payne told Clarksville Now.
Longtime Elberta resident Vaneesa Huntley confirmed Payne’s property has flooded many times, and she said that since she was little, she has called this area of the subdivision “Lake Elberta.”
“There’s always been a drainage issue at the end of this street,” Huntley said. “We’ve had to go through many, many years of watching a lot of our neighbors have destroyed homes, as well as property. We’ve been on the fortunate end: My house is a couple of houses up from Candace, so we don’t necessarily have the same flood damage, but there has been some damage to the house.”
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Payne said when she bought the house, the previous owners offered the property without a Residential Property Condition Statement because they didn’t live in the house for the three years prior to the sale. Payne said she didn’t realize this wasn’t included in the housing contract until after the flooding took place.
Clarksville Association of Realtors Executive Director Deb Haines-Kulick confirmed that this exemption is one of several that property owners can use before selling a home. Haines-Kulick said this is typically used when a property owner rents out a home and then moves to sell.
Jennifer Harper, also with CAR, said Tennessee law requires that a seller of a home disclose flooding and flood damage, though there are several exemptions, such as that one.
Flood damage is listed as an exclusion on most homeowner policies, that being said there are many homeowners in need of a separate insurance policy, according to Marcalee Baxter at Farmers Insurance.
Should flood properties be condemned?
Payne is asking for her house to be condemned by the City of Clarksville, and there is precedent for that.
Around 2008, the city condemned and demolished a home across the street from Payne’s property, she said, because of flooding issues. The city offered to condemn her home as well, but the property owner at the time declined and then sold the home years later, she said.
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She said the City of Clarksville should have used eminent domain to take her house back then. “We know it is a hazard; they should have moved in, declared eminent domain, taken the property, demolished it then, and made it where no one else could purchase it,” she said.
“Because if the city had made that move, the house would have never been here for me to buy. … My upbringing and my heart will not allow me to just sell this house to somebody else, because I know how traumatized I am from walking down the stairs and seeing that amount of water. I can’t in good conscience sell this house to somebody else knowing they will deal with the same thing.”
For now, she said, she’s stuck there with no way of leaving.
City studies under way
As previously reported, the Clarksville City Council has designated for drainage mitigation studies on both Love Street and on Elberta Drive.
Clarksville Now reached out to the city with a number of questions about the flooding problems.
“The City of Clarksville has been in the process for several days of gathering data and information,” city officials responded. “With much of that in hand, we are working on a formal presentation that will be made to the City Council and the public that will address the history and present condition of the drainage system and answer many of the questions posed in this request. We don’t have a date set for that presentation but anticipate it will be within the next 30-45 days.”
Where to put the water?
Ronnie Howton bought his property on Vaughan Road near Exit 11 in 2014, and he said he and his family have been dealing with flooding ever since.
He said he was told during purchase negotiations that the property had flooded in 2010, but so did most of Clarksville that year. What Howton thought was a once-in-a-lifetime problem turned into something he’d never imagined.
Within the first year, the disabled Army veteran began to notice drainage issues. “It progressed from there, and now it’s an ongoing issue. … I’m having to do things I wouldn’t typically do,” Howton told Clarksville Now. While it depends on the year and season, Howton said his property has flooded at least three times a year.
He said he has spoken to the Clarksville Street Department several times, including years ago when he was told fixing the issue would cost more than the property is worth, so they couldn’t help.
After finding out the city wouldn’t help him, Howton resorted to some unorthodox solutions. This included not only digging drains by hand, but also diverting the groundwater down the city sewer. “I can’t afford equipment; I can’t afford crews of workers. I have to use a shovel, a pick and a wheelbarrow to try and dig drains,” Howton said.
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Howton said he previously shared this information with representatives with the Clarksville Gas and Water Department, then also told the Transportation, Streets, Garage Committee at a meeting on Aug. 13.
“I’m not trying to hide the fact that I’ve been pumping water down the city sewer,” Howton said. “I don’t want to do that, and that is a lot of a hassle for me. It’s also a headache for the city. … But if I don’t get help from the city, I’m going to have to do things on my own. I have to do things to protect my home and my family.
“I’m frustrated; I’m tired; I’m broken, physically and mentally, from dealing with this flooding,” Howton said. “This place is going to kill me. All I’m asking for is help.”
To stop Howton from diverting groundwater into the city sewer, which can overload and damage the system, Clarksville Gas and Water recently bolted and sealed the manholes near Howton’s property.
Now, Howton is looking to build a barricade on his land – anything to stop the water from getting into his home.
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Correction: this story has been updated with comments from Marcalee Baxter.