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Charles Street residents report flooding problem

Residents of Charles Street in Butler are looking for a solution to recent flooding, which knocked down a picket fence a few weeks ago.Eddie Trizzino/Butler Eagle
Officials say they are looking into Ritts Park area

Jessica Matthews has lived in a house on Charles Street for about six years and never had issues with flooding in the past, even though a drain pipe runs underneath her property, funneling rain that falls down from Ritts Park.

This year, however, her basement flooded during a heavy rainfall, and buildup of water in her side yard knocked down a wooden picket fence.

While Butler experienced some heavy rainfall and flooding in other areas of town, Matthews said she believes the culprit is some kind of water blockage.

“It gets really high and overflows like a river through our backyard,” Matthews said. “What it looks like is this drain isn't big enough to handle these downpours we've been having.”

Erin Colkitt has lived on Charles Street for about six years, and has also been the victim of flooding this summer. She said she can usually see leaves and bark flow into a street drain when it rains, but that has not caused flooding in previous years.

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