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Problems leaves Green Oak Township residents stuck in water-locked homes

Posted at 6:32 PM, Feb 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-22 18:32:49-05

"It's terrible. There's no way to live down there right now," says Todd Correll who lives on Lime Kiln Drive in Green Oak Township where a combination of recent melting snow and heavy rains have left many residents stuck in their homes that are now surrounded by water. 

The area is a flood way, but Correll and some of his neighbors believe much of the flooding stems from the dam that they don't think is being properly regulated. 

Green Oak Township Supervisor Mark St. Charles says homes never should have been built on Lime Kiln Drive. He says decades ago they were just summer cottages, but they're now used as year-round homes. 

Then there are the broken, debris-filled culverts - tunnels that once helped to divert the water, but they're old - one broke and the other just deteriorated. And in order to still be able to drive over the broken culverts, residents have filled them with chunks of concrete and other debris and then topped it off with dirt. 

And replacing the culverts won't be easy because Lime Kiln Drive is a private road and the cost will fall on the ten homeowners affected.

But Correll and others say more should be done to help them. 

Livingston County Drain Commissioner Brian Jonckheere says, when it comes to the dam, a court order limits what they can do. But Jonckheere says he will talk to his dam operator to see if they can store a little more water. 

Jonckheere says they plan to co-author a grant application to FEMA for funds that could enable them to buy the homes on Lime Kiln Drive.