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Residents demand independent look into Huntington flooding
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Jeff Livingston, right, a resident of Huntington Park, collects signatures from neighbors Jose Carralza, left, and Florentin Mejia, center, on a petition to the governor to study the causes of flodding in their community.
Huntington, Va. (Map, News) - Residents of the most seriously flooded area in North Virginia are demanding an independent investigation into why their homes were inundated and what authorities are going to do about it.
On a muggy Thursday afternoon in Huntington, amid bustling county inspectors, contractors and homeowners all entrenched in post-flood recovery, two residents are gathering support signature by signature.
Geoff Livingston and Everald Harrison, and everyone who signed their petition, are demanding answers. Livingston, 34, and Harrison, 59, who live on Arlington Terrace, want to see an independent investigation into the swift and devastating flooding that struck that East Fairfax County community the night of June 25.
“People have lived on this street for 50-some years, they have never seen this kind of flooding even during the worst of hurricanes,” said Livingston, who ran a public relations agency from his basement until it was inundated by rushing, sewage-mingled waters from nearby Cameron Run.
Added Livingston: “This was an unnatural event.”
Possible contributing factors to Cameron Run’s sudden swelling during the summer storm are now under investigation by Fairfax County. Directly after the flood, 160 homes in the area were declared unfit for habitation. Countywide, damage estimates run in the millions.
Some residents spoke positively about the county’s recovery effort, though they said they still want answers.
“Clearly the issue is, was there a problem with Cameron Run?” asked Thomas Stagnaro, who was working Thursday on his daughter’s house on Fenwick Drive.
Many hypotheses have been put forth to explain the phenomenon. Some say the construction of Woodrow Wilson Bridge was involved. One frequently heard theory is that water was released from Barcroft dam around the time of the event, though an official in charge of the dam said those accusations are misguided.
“I think they’re looking for a reason that the flooding happened, and the reason is we got that many inches of rain,” said Charles de Seve, chairman of the board of trustees of the Lake Barcroft Water Improvement District.
Seve said the dam is required to let out as much water as it lets in, and is not able to hold back flood waters.
“To some degree, development has speeded up the water flow,” he said. “There is certainly nothing that we here at the dam can do about that.”
The operators of Barcroft Dam are among those the county is working with in its investigation of the flood, said county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald. The Virginia Department of Transportation, the city of Alexandria and the Army Corps Of Engineers are also involved. The corps, she said, have agreed to conduct their own study.
wflook@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:08 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 7, 2008 re: "High temperatures expected to last throughout the week"
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12:35 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 13, 2008
re: "Storm leaves thousands without power, closes several schools in Baltimore area"
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MrHyphy said:
Time to chill on the block with a tank top yadadafeel me?
7 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the tree in the picture cut down? There is no breakage on the tree and looks like it was taken down by a chain saw.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Let's not forget those of us that were stranded because MTA doesn't have a proper back up plan for light rail interuptions. Dozens of people waited for their chance to crowd onto a shuttle bus, maybe 3 showed up in the hour i waited. When lodging a complaint, the MTA rep. said they do not plan for these things. REALLY? you should always plan for how to get around an interuption in the line. But then again, its the MTA! BTW, what the hell does O'Malley ahve to do with the weather? Everyone seems to be all up in arms about relating him to the storm damage. It's an act of nature, or as some might say, an act of GOD lol. if so, GOD does not seem to be happy with those that are close minded lately.
12 agree | 10 disagree
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Steven Lessner said:
O'malley,busch,and miller would all be typical weatherman where they could lie to the public.Between the state liars and shelia dixon and her corrupt adminstration it's a race to see who can steal more tax dollars. Dixon's adminstration does a pretty good job of stealing since most of her people are black.Instead of giving a tax break she wants to give raises to her people while other people in the private sector are losing their jobs let's give raises and screw the people in the city. Dixon doesn't care about the city of baltimore, one of the most violent in the country.Just as O'Malley could care less about Maryland,this is not the "FREE STATE" anymore it's should be renamed the expensive state that has the most laws in the nation.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
O'Malley would make a better weather man than he is a politician. He could lie about the weather and blame it on Bob Ehrlich and global warming.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Had it not been for global warming there would be 40 inches of snow laying on the ground right now with many people losing thier lives!
9 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the issue with VDOT and /or the lack of the national /local reporting
149 agree | 171 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Virginia definitely doesn't know how to handle this type of weather, let alone do Virginia drivers know how to drive. Being from Indiana, it cracks me up to see places of business closing down because the weather report says there's a chance of snow. People need to slow down and remember what driver's ed taught them, it'll save lives.
157 agree | 162 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Cabin fever!!!
158 agree | 131 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The problem is that Virginia does not know how to handle winter weather. It's not just highways. "It was a perfect storm at a perfect time..."? Gimme a break. Just own up to not having enough DOT trucks, and to not having an efficient plan when snow/ice falls. There certainly are plenty of other states that deal with snow/ice every year, yet they don't seem to have these issues. It's amazing really.
163 agree | 157 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
ok
179 agree | 186 disagree
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Tinker said:
Just think how much colder it would be if "AL" had not invented global warming!
199 agree | 173 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Actually, there was also a 7:05 ferry from Oakland to SF that I was on - what a wild ride!
227 agree | 210 disagree
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