Woman fighting black mold from flood in 10 Mile Flats

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Woman fighting black mold from flood in 10 Mile Flats

Norman Transcript - Norman,OK*

By Carol L. Cole

Transcript Staff Writer

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_193001525.html

The smell is something you won't forget, sort of a stinking, rotting

smell that makes your eyes blink and throat sore.

The crawl space at Chrissie 's home at 3307 48th Avenue NW is

something to behold, but not in a good way. About a foot-and-a-half

of putrid, stagnant water was trapped in the space — it was down to

about 8 inches of water on Wednesday afternoon — and it is rapidly

causing black mold to permeate her house.

" So it's nasty, " said, her voice raspy. " I have a really bad

sore throat. "

The home, which was built in the 1930s and moved to the site in the

mid 1960s, has never flooded, even in wetter-than-average years in

the 1970s. But this year is different.

Water crept near her house on 3.12 acres several times earlier this

year. The crawl space flooded first on June 26, then June 28 and

most recently Tuesday morning.

It's meant has had to stay in a hotel.

Her barn is flooded, her hay ruined, her two horses sick. She moved

them to a friend's house but is keeping her dogs on the premises.

And the septic system is out of commission and can't be pumped until

the water is out of the crawl space. E. coli has contaminated her

water well, as it has her neighbors'.

, who has lived there three years, had been tearing her

carpet out herself. The single mom, who is broker/owner of

Trustworthy Realty, hasn't worked much in days.

" This is a full-time job, " she said. " Trying to deal with that

stinking mold is just nasty. It stinks. "

Her insurance agent said her policy won't pay for damage from

flooding or from developments or zoning.

But now she's getting some help. The City of Norman loaned her a

pump to help her get the water out of her crawl space.

And the American Red Cross provided bottled water, food, a

hotel room and have said they'll help her replace her hay. They plan

to contribute $150 toward replacement of her beds.

" They've been great, " she said. " I didn't know they did some of

these things. "

But until 's septic system is back up and running and the

mold and E. coli taken care of, she will not be able to move back

in.

The City of Norman also brought her neighbors, Darrell and Pam

Jennings, a water tanker until their well is decontaminated, also

from E. coli.

notes the irony of her situation.

She spoke in favor to the Norman City Council for the then-proposed,

controversial Windstone Farms development, which is now called

Fountainview Addition.

" I thought it would make property values go up, " said. " I

had faith that they would do things responsibly. "

And she had been critical of her neighbor Pam Jennings, who

vehemently opposed the development, saying it would cause drainage

problems. No more.

The neighbors in the area believe the development, which is being

built uphill to the east of their homes, contributes to their

problem.

The developer, Sassan Moghadam of Precision Builders, brought in

earth-moving equipment Wednesday afternoon to try to clear a channel

and clean out tin horns for water to drain off his property just

east of 48th Avenue NW and south of 's and the Jennings'

homes.

" When they say he's timely, he was from June 26 to July 11 timely, "

said, surveying the yellow bulldozers as they moved in to

work.

Moghadam's insurance agent has said he would meet with on

Monday morning.

And said Moghadam made a verbal offer of $175,000 on her

property, which she turned down, saying he had flooded her house and

was now attempting to buy it cheap.

Moghadam on Tuesday blamed the drainage problems on record rains.

" We certainly did not create the rain, " he said. " I feel for the

neighbors. … But we certainly don't feel like it's anything we've

done. "

Carol L. Cole

ccole@...