TEMPLE — A Temple woman has been asking the city to do something about the hole filled with water next to her house for two years. After she called Channel 6, a solution may be on the way
Kathy Sodek said her street, West Park Ave. in Temple, was notorious for flooding after a big rain, but the city's solution has made things worse than ever. The City of Temple dug a hole at the end of the street for water to drain into, but it created a small swamp in the neighborhood.
“We're being eat(en) up by mosquitoes in the summertime. The smell is wrenching," Sodek said. "To me, it’s a health hazard. I have a little girl that is allergic to mosquitoes.”
Channel 6 reached out to the City of Temple multiple times over the last week and eventually spoke to Public Works Director Nicole Torralva.
"We are aware of the difficulty and that the water does pond there," Torralva said. "The question is, how do we get the water from where it is now to where it needs to drain out, and it has to go across BNSF property. BNSF is aware of the issue but they have not been real responsive."
The problem, Torralva said, is the water needs to drain across railroad infrastructure, and the city must have cooperation from BNSF railway to do the project.
"We've reached out to them three or four times within the last two years," Torralva said.
Channel 6 also reached out BNSF. Channel 6 wrote an email to the company documenting the issue and providing photos. Public Affairs Director Joe Faust told Channel 6 on Thursday he would send the email to his engineering team. He then followed up the next day.
"I checked with our engineering department and got a message back," Faust said. "Now that the challenge has officially been brought to BNSF, we will work with the city to resolve the issue. Details will be more forthcoming in the weeks to come... BNSF will reach out to the city of Temple, and will hopefully resolve this challenge.
Channel 6 will follow up with the City of Temple to ensure they have been contacted in the future.