Clogged culverts flood neighborhood

KOOTENAI — A neighborhood’s living conditions transformed from “White Christmas” to “Water World” this week thanks to a failing culvert system.

 Kootenai resident Serve Wilson, who resides on Humbird Drive, is unable to remove his vehicles from his driveway after melting snow outside his house pooled into a puddle the size of a small pond. The result of a clogged culvert system, the unwelcome body of water reaches a depth of two feet in some areas.

“It’s definitely making it difficult to get around,” Wilson said.

Wilson said that attempts to obtain Bonner County’s help in the matter have been largely futile. After several attempts to reach them by phone, Bonner County Road and Bridge officials told him that their neighborhood was outside of the service area.

“The most they’ve done is send some guys out to take a look at the situation,” Wilson said. “They didn’t even get out of the truck. They just looked out the window and then drove off.”

Neighborhood residents said that the problem isn’t centralized around Wilson’s property. Water pooling is an issue all around the south Kootenai residential area due to an often dysfunctional drainage system. Resident Jim Edwards said that he has to rake out debris from the culverts twice a year because the county won’t.

“They say that the culverts are the homeowner’s responsibility,” he said.

Since no homeowner’s association exists in the area, residents have thus far taken maintenance into their own hands. In past years, Wilson cleared out the culverts around his home himself. But he couldn’t manage the task this fall because of travel outside the area. He believes that is the cause of his current troubles.

“I think it’s really the county that needs to come out and take care of these drainage problems,” he said.