Flooding hits Hamilton’s West Side again

More flooding hit Hamilton’s West Side on Thursday night, damaging businesses, flooding basements and keeping some employees up well past midnight cleaning water from their workplaces.

A Ford Mustang was even seen floating down Rhea Avenue.

It was a repeat of a situation many of the same area residents and business owners experienced June 2, when another heavy storm did similar damage, prompting the city to investigate ways to alleviate two kinds of flooding problems. The first is sewage backing up into residential basements; the other is flooding in the 900 block of Main Street and nearby roadways that rises and pours into nearby buildings.

Terry Stephens, a former science teacher who lives just outside Hamilton city limits on the West Side, said a rain gauge he has recorded more than 4 inches of rain overnight. He was puzzled as he sat at Andy’s Restaurant, along the area of Main Street where the water pooled, flooding businesses, about why the area has experienced flooding twice in just over two months.