WATERLOO, Neb. (KMTV) — During the March flood, Jody Bidlack. along with much of her neighborhood around 264th and Pacific St. had basements flooded. Pastures that looked like ponds.
The main reason for so much water, the Union Dike broke. Filling up many of the lakes and ponds near Curtis Acres.
"A lot of the problems out here isn't just that the dike broke and the water came,” says Jody Bidlack, a flood victim in Waterloo.
She thinks her street was flooded because over a period of decades, the county has removed culverts and filled in ditches.
One reason they did it, landowners could mow those areas a lot easier.
"It's usually for the convenience of the landowner but at the expense of the rest of the community,” says Bidlack.
And when the waters came, culverts would have been useful.
Bidlack told Douglas County Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson of the problem at the town hall on Monday. Borgeson said she'd look into it.
Bidlack hopes she follows through.
"They need to make sure the ditches are re-opened, they need to make sure they're large enough to handle the capacity of water and it won't get blocked, it may upset some landowners but it's something we have to deal with,” says Bidlack.
