Stormwater causing cave-in concerns near Westside homes

Cedar Hills neighbors worried about safety

JACKSONVILL, Fla. – A Westside homeowner said a blocked storm drain is causing flood problems and the surrounding land to cave in. A large hole has formed and has one neighbor concerned about safety and a neighbor said that the city has ignored her requests to fix the issue.

"The ground is caving in. It's really dangerous over here,"  Sonya Shelton, who has lived in the Cedar Hills community for over 40 years said.

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She said the storm drainage ditch next door has been causing a lot of frustration.

"This house floods, the house across the street floods and my house floods because this water has nowhere to go," said Shelton.

Shelton and her neighbors said they deal with extreme issues every time a storm passes. The ground disappears under the flooding. After constant complaints, she says the city came out and installed a brick wall last year to keep the water from spilling over. Two months later, she noticed it began to sink.

"These bricks have dropped down. The water has nowhere to go. It's going over the wall into this here," Shelton said.

The stormwater appears to create a new runoff pattern causing the land and dirt surrounding the storm drain to collapse.

Right now, the hole is a little over five feet deep and that's about the height that I am, not to mention it's only steps away from a JEA utility pole.

"It frustrates me a lot," Shelton said. "I've been calling them nonstop, sending pictures and it's getting a little dangerous."

Recently, the city put out several of these barriers, but Shelton says things are only getting worse. Overgrown brush covers one of the barriers.

"We had a child fall in the other day, and we pulled him out and sometimes the barriers fall in," Shelton said.

Shelton said the fact that she lives next to a storm drain doesn't bother her, but she wants the city to fix the problem so it can work properly.

"I just want this taken care of because I'm scared, it's scary for all of us in this neighborhood," Shelton said.

We reached out to the city and Public Works says they will address the issue which includes removing debris blockage, repairing and extending the headwall.