Residents Blame City for flood Damage

Five Bowie residents have filed claims so far for city insurance compensation for flood damage to their houses that they say is the city’s fault.

Two residents on Sadler Lane claim the city failed to clear storm drains before Tropical Storm Lee dumped more than five inches of rain on the city on Sept. 7 and 8, causing what one of them estimated was $30,000 in damage to his house and belongings.

But the city contends there was so much rain that no amount of maintenance would have prevented flooding.

“Our position is that we did the appropriate maintenance of the storm drain system in the area,” said City Manager David Deutsch, who said high winds Sept. 7 and 8 blew garbage bags set out on the street that night, blocking some drains, and that some drains — with or without maintenance — didn’t have the capacity to handle the volume of water.

“There was an unprecedented amount of rain in an extremely short period of time,” he said.

Deutsch said the city nonetheless helped the residents file the claims, which are being reviewed by the Local Government Insurance Trust, a nonprofit based in Hanover, that manages the city’s liability insurance.

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