ASHTABULA, Ohio - Bobek has lived on W 55th Street for six years, and says the water spills in from seemingly everywhere, running down the street to the dead end in front of her home, where it not only gathers but brings trash and dirt, sitting on the choked drains.
“I’m already preparing for the headache as soon as I wake up and look out my window, and I’m like, ‘Well, it happened again,’” said Bobek. That water constantly backing up on their blocked drains pushes it elsewhere. Conrad Shoemaker lives here, too, and says the basement consistently floods because of the blocked drains on the street.
“Especially seeing a red cell come towards Ashtabula, we know our basement is the first to go,” said Shoemaker. They say while they have yet to call the city on the problem, they believe others on the street have, and still the drains remain clogged under stacks of dirt and garbage.19 News will follow up with the city Monday, to see if anything can be done before the next storm.