Omaha business owners frustrated with continuous drainage issues – WOWT

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Drainage overflow from yesterday’s downpour left several Omaha business neighbors full of frustration.
That’s because it’s not the first time they’ve had water and mud damage on their properties.
An invasion of muddy water was captured on security camera behind Kelly Mueller’s business Sunday afternoon.
“This is after the rain, this is water still coming down,” said Mueller, Radio Engineering Industries.
His employee parking lot flooded luckily not on a workday but the next storm could be.
“This is a safety issue, my employees are walking across this when they come in it’s a labor issue where we are latterly cleaning our lot every time, we get a heavy rain like this,” said Mueller.
This is the third cleanup in about a month.
In an effort to prevent rainwater and mud from flowing into his parking lot, Kelly invested in these silt barriers but you can see the power of the runoff just pushed them out of the way.
A downpour last year was recorded by a business neighbor Batten Trailer Leasing which sandbagged next to a drainage ditch but still had $30,000 in property damage.
“The city needs to come in correct this and get it done right and repair the drainage, the natural flow drainage that’s in disrepair,” said Barry Kubat.
Three business owners experiencing ongoing water issues have videos pointing to the problem they see running downhill along 67th Street in this industrial area.
“What we have to do is eliminate the silt runoff from up above and if that can take place then we can start addressing our problem down here,” said Rod Lang, Lang Painting Group.
Omaha’s capital construction engineer responded with an email saying the city has conducted extensive drainage repairs on 67th and F streets in recent years. A number of chronic maintenance issues will be addressed as they arise.
There are no plans for capital projects or drainage improvements in the area.
“No plans for capital projects or drainage improvements in the area, wow,” said Mueller.
But business owners affected by runoff say the city should at least improve the flow of communication.
“They could coordinate, they could come up with a plan and we could all sit down all the affected owners around here and get it fixed,” said Mueller.
Four business neighbors with differing businesses have a common goal, stop the runoff downhill that’s hurting their bottom lines.
The four business owners estimate damage and cleanup from runoff has cost them a total of about $75,000.
City officials have met with them to see their concerns firsthand but the business owners would like an in-depth planning session to develop solutions.
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