ANDOVER — A group of Binney Street homeowners are blaming the Massachusetts Highway Department for failing to maintain a catch basin that became blocked, causing flooding in three homes last week.
"This shouldn't have happened," said Kimberly Solt of 10 Binney St., her eyes welling up as a trash container filled with the contents of her basement, including Christmas decorations and family albums and videos, was hauled away.
Cindy DiStefano of 12 Binney St., whose home suffered the most damage during last Thursday's heavy rain, said she had warned state officials as much as a week ago that the catch basin was blocked and was causing minor flooding in her yard.
Added Michael Solt: "The 24-inch drain was blocked with debris and silt. It had not been maintained. If it's kept clean, it can handle the runoff."
Their homes, along with the house at 8 Binney St., suffered heavy damage due to the flooding, which started around 5 a.m. Thursday and did not subside until late in the day after state workers pumped the water up the street into another storm drain on Route 28.
Over the weekend, state crews removed the blockage, according to neighbors and Sen. Susan Tucker, D-Andover, who is working on behalf of the neighbors to find out if they can recover any damages from the state.
It was the first case of severe flooding any of the residents could remember in their neighborhood, which is bordered to the south by an enormous embankment holding up the southbound lanes of Interstate 495 and to the east by a set of railroad tracks. To the west is Route 28, Union Street.
"I never had water in my basement," said Doreen Powers, who has lived at 8 Binney St. for the past 17 years.
Because they don't live in a flood zone, none of the residents had flood insurance, she said.
DiStefano said that coincidentally all three families have MetLife homeowners' insurance.
"We've all been denied coverage," she said. "We're going after the state on this."
The three families planned on filing a claim against MassHighway, she said.
"We will forward a letter to the legal department at MassHighway that we need emergency assistance for food and living expenses," DiStefano said.
It's unclear whether they will get help from the state anytime soon.
State officials have been working with the DiStefanos and the other families to file a "tort claim" against the state as a result of the flooding, said Klark Jessen, director of communications for the Executive Office of Transportation, which oversees MassHighway.
After they file the tort claim, he said, "an investigation would be done to verify the claim."
The investigation, he said, could take "weeks or months," after which a judgment would be made by the agency's legal department.
Whether that judgment would translate into financial assistance to the families, he said, "I don't know. That could be the outcome."
He said he didn't know anything about emergency assistance, and that anything like that would only come if the neighborhood was declared a disaster area by the state or federal government, which usually only happens during massive flooding affecting dozens of homes.
The subject of the investigation would be over who owns the culverts and what caused the flooding.
Jessen said a preliminary investigation reveals that the flooding was the result of "multiple issues," including "a town culvert and a railroad culvert that might have been an issue in this circumstance."
Town Manager Reginald "Buzz" Stapczynski said he was unsure if the town owned any of the culverts involved.
"That's what we'll have to sort out," he said, adding that a series of manhole covers and storm drains had been revealed in the DiStefanos' backyard after the flooding, but that they may be owned by the state as well.
"The state has a right-of-way through the DiStefanos' sideyard," he said.
Doreen Powers said she was frustrated by the finger-pointing.
"The state says it's the town, the town says it's the state," she said.
Kimberly Solt agreed. "Andover is pointing to the state, and the state is pointing to Andover. Nobody wants to take the blame."
Tucker said she wants answers — and help for the residents affected — while also blaming the state highway department for failing to maintain the catch basin.
"They came and cleaned it out after the flood," she said. "That makes me believe they have some responsibility for it."
In the meantime, the residents are being left to pick up the pieces.
But they are getting help.
Volunteers from the New England Bible Church in Andover, as well as people from other groups, converged on the neighborhood over the weekend to help clean out the basements and fill Dumpsters, also donated by church members.
The DiStefanos lost a partially finished basement, complete with a family room, an entertainment center and a walk-in closet filled with clothing, and will likely be forced to replace all the wiring in their house. They also have to rip the plaster off the walls 4 feet up off the floor of the first floor, and may have to remove the lathe that holds the plaster as well.
Their kitchen is nearly a complete loss, with all the appliances and floor cabinets, along with the countertop, removed by volunteers over the weekend.
Next door, the Solts lost everything in their basement, including many priceless personal belongings, while the Powers, at 8 Binney St., also lost everything in their basement, except the furnace.
