Pocatello family dealing with heavy backyard flooding

Do you know what it sounds like to wade through several inches of mud and water in your backyard? One Pocatello family does.

A home on Andrew Street in the East Bench area of Pocatello has its backyard completely flooded with several inches of water. The water varies from six to twelve inches.

The family has been working for two days straight to try and clean the wet, muddy mess.

“It’s just piled up in our backyard,” said Aaron Pierce, who owns the home. “We’re getting extreme runoff from the hills above us and the undeveloped lots. We’ve struggled with lack of erosion control and management as well. So we’re taking on a lot of water and at this point, it’s going into our basement.”

With neighbors above them that haven’t properly contained or preventing against flooding, all the water is flowing down into this home. The family is also frustrated because the property developer hasn’t taken any action to help with the situation either. There are no barriers or any type of erosion control in place in this subdivision. The family said it has been able to contain its water fairly well but it’s just gotten to be too much with all the runoff.

The family has tried to pump the water out at least three times but it continues to fill up. Around 40 sandbags have been placed around the home, but it hasn’t been able to contain all the water. Some water still managed to get around the house and fill front window sills.

It’s been a timely and costly mess.

“It’s a brand new house, finished basement and we’ve had to rip out carpet, the wall has to be ripped out,” Pierce said. “Also we had to go buy a pump and sandbags.”

Between the damage to the basement and the cost of the equipment, the family is looking at a price tag of at least a few thousand dollars.

With the mess in their yard, the family has a message to pass along through their experience.

“We just need to make sure we’re controlling our runoff from all over the place,” Pierce said. “Whether it’s up the hill, your neighbor’s water, whatever it is, let’s look out for each other and try and help each other out.”

The family is just hoping to be able to get the mess taken care of soon. Pierce said he does worry about how it will affect landscaping in the spring but he hopes to be able to fix it the best they can.