NORFOLK -- When members of the Central Brambleton Civic League got together for their meeting Tuesday night, they had a few guests they weren't expecting. People from neighboring Spartan Village joined them, taking advantage of the fact that speakers included people with the City of Norfolk. Those who live in Spartan Village hoped to give an extra push to get help the city promised in August after a rain storm brought some of the worst flooding the neighborhood saw in years. The Nor'easter last week also brought high water.
"I lost one car in August, and I lost a second car during this flood," says Tranace Baker. "You know, now here come FEMA and everybody else going to Ocean View, and they rushing to their aid, but what about us?"
"Personally," Cheri Lee tells 13News, "I think they forgot us."
During the storm in August, Lee found herself knee-deep in water inside her house on Madison Avenue. This time, she did a little bit better. No water made it into the house. Firefighters helped her and her three children get out as water rose in the street.
"I don't feel like we've gotten anywhere," Lee says, "and I feel they're like, just gonna leave us here."
"We're gonna follow through with the commitments that the city leadership has made," says Manager of the Storm Water Division John White.
"We're working on the issue. We're not leaving 'em behind. They're an integral part of the city and valued." White also says, "We're looking at the options. Like I told the folks here, none of 'em are cheap or quick or easy. It's gonna take some time."
"If you could move, come on, common sense, we would move, but we can't, so it's really not that simple," says Lee, a single mother with a single income. She adds, "Wish people would stop acting like we're doing nothing, and we just want a handout. That's not the case. If we could move, we would move...Nobody wants to buy us out. Nobody wants to come into this neighborhood, so we're stuck."
