Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301080088
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
FLOOD LOSS BRINGS FINGER-POINTING, LITTLE ELSE
Linda Robinson has weathered a recent deluge of bad luck.First, she endured a wave of illnesses that nearly cost her life and kept her out of work for a long time.
Then, about six months ago, she lost most of her belongings when a flash flood inundated a storage warehouse.
The cause of that flood is the source of much finger-pointing around Radford. Depending on whom you ask, it was either the fault of God, the city of Radford, Norfolk Southern Corp. or Radford University.
That's big competition for a small fry like Robinson, who seems destined to end up like a leaf in a torrent.
"I don't have anything left. You think anybody gives a damn? Nobody cares," she said.
The story began when Robinson, 47, stored household goods and personal items at Norwood Street's Pack It In warehouse.
Robinson intended to leave her belongings there briefly until she moved to a new apartment.
Then, on Monday, June 8, a fierce storm poured buckets of rain on East Radford, overflowing a drainage ditch and dumping 5 feet of water into the warehouse.
Robinson said she learned of the flood on television and thought, "I hope it doesn't get my stuff."
On her way to work at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant the next day, she drove to the warehouse and saw a sickening sight.
"There was water still flowing out of the storage stall."
A day later she returned, opened the stall and took a look at her belongings.
"It was gross. All my stuff was smelly, water-logged - just ruined."
Among the items was an estimated $20,000 worth of furniture, clothes, appliances, dishes and linens, in addition to a stereo and a camera.
Her diploma from Christiansburg Industrial Institute, a secondary school for blacks that closed in the 1960s, and her school class picture were damaged beyond restoration and cannot be replaced.
Then, compounding her misfortune, her few salvageable items were stolen after Robinson and her two daughters pulled them out of the warehouse and left them overnight in the parking lot to dry.
Among the major players in this muddied situation, there's much sympathy for Robinson. But no one is willing to accept responsibility or blame.
The water that flooded the Pack It In warehouse came from a ditch that parallels the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
The ditch, which runs directly behind the storage warehouse and other businesses on the north side of Norwood Street, collects runoff from city storm drains.
Water is supposed to drain from the ditch through a culvert beneath the tracks. That culvert connects to a pipe buried near Radford University's Dedmon Center complex that leads to the New River.
However, on June 8 - and on other occasions before and after - the culvert couldn't handle the tremendous flow of storm water.
Water backed up, the ditch overflowed, and the basement of the two-story warehouse where Robinson's belongings were stored was flooded.
Also significantly damaged that day was a building on the opposite side of Norwood Street housing Max Jenkins' law office.
A pipe designed to carry runoff beneath Norwood Street to the drainage ditch also backed up. The basement of Jenkins' building was flooded, ruining files and office equipment.
Radford city officials think the culvert culprit is Norfolk Southern Corp. City Engineer Jim Hurt said railroad maintenance crews threw brush and old rail ties in the ditch, which clogged the culvert and caused the backups.
"It's a chronic situation," said City Manager Robert Asbury. "Anytime that ditch is obstructed, it backs up on the adjoining properties."
After the flood subsided, Hurt said, the city found debris in the ditch and culvert, and rail ties that had washed through the pipe and blocked the line near the Dedmon Center.
City crews worked for three days with a crew from Radford University to clear the obstruction, Hurt said. A backhoe was used to pull ties out of manholes, and workers crawled into the pipes to remove tangled brush with chain saws.
The clean-up operation was documented by the city in photographs and videotape.
The drainage ditch and culvert beneath the tracks are railroad property. Yet the city and Radford University spent time and money to clear the obstructions because Norfolk Southern wouldn't respond, Hurt said. Hurt said he contacted a NS official on the day after the flooding.
"Basically, he said, `Well, what are you going to do about it?'"
Don Bagley, NS division engineer, said he knew about the June 8 flooding and understood that the problem was caused by a blockage of the pipe on Radford University property.
Don Billingsley, an assistant division engineer for the railroad, said he was unaware that railroad ties were found in the pipe. Billingsley said he inspected the pipe after the flood and found it "clean as a rifle barrel."
Radford businessman George Harvey, owner of Pack It In warehouse, and Max Jenkins say the flooding isn't the railroad's fault at all.
They blame the city.
Flooding became a problem only in recent years, since residential development on hillsides south of Norwood Street increased run-off, Harvey and Jenkins said.
"The city's dumping too much water in the system," Harvey said. "They just don't have enough drain. It's not big enough to accommodate all the water."
Jenkins said he's been flooded four times in the past decade.
"Each and every time it's not been the city's fault. That's all I've heard.".
Harvey said he has been forced to close the basement of the warehouse where Robinson's belongings were stored.
"I can't, in good conscience, rent to somebody and have them lose their property."
His insurance company won't pay for damage to the building because the flood was "an act of God," Harvey said.
His warehouse tenants who lost property in the flood also haven't been able to obtain insurance reimbursements, he said. Harvey said he's not liable, either, to the tenants.
"We don't feel we did anything wrong."
Robinson said she didn't buy insurance for her belongings because an employee of Pack It In told her it wouldn't be necessary for her short-term shortage plans. Harvey said that's not true; he said Pack It In offers insurance but doesn't advise tenants on whether or not to buy it.
The only reimbursement Robinson has obtained for her lost belongings was for the stolen items.
A month ago, another storm caused water to back up in the ditch again. Even though no flooding occurred, Hurt said, it's only a matter of time.
"Somebody has to have some responsibility here," said Harvey.
"The community is at the mercy of Norfolk Southern for maintenance of that drainage-way," said Asbury.
Bagley said the city should call him directly the next time problems occur. "Let us get right into it immediately," he said.
Radford University crews now go into the manholes routinely to clean the pipes after each hard rain, said spokeswoman Debbie Brown.
And Robinson, whose finances are down the tubes, has hired a lawyer.
"God brought the rains, but he didn't clog the drains," she says.