Homeowners in Shiloh must act alone, federal intervention delayed | WDHN

ELBA, Alabama (WDHN) – After waiting patiently for more than two months since the last visit from federal highway and transportation officials, homeowners in Elba are now forced to act quickly to find a solution to the flooding.

“We’re not just sitting there waiting for the federal government to do something,” Williams said. “We’re being proactive.”

Federal agencies investigating Shiloh flooding say ALDOT should do more

The community of Shiloh has hired one of its partners in the road to justice, the Southern Environmental Law Center, to hire an engineer to figure out what they can do to alleviate the flooding on their side of the highway that they say is coming from Highway 84.

“We came up with some plans. They came here and designed things, and so we had to go back and change the plans to comply with them immediately,” he said.

Williams said they need to act faster because working at the federal level can be a lengthy process.

Williams said they followed that logic and showed the engineer plans of how the water flowed before the highway was elevated and expanded to a four-lane expressway six years ago.

Since then, he says, they have been struggling with heavy rainwater because their community was connected via four pipes.

“If we can contain the problem and just capture the raindrops, it won’t be quite as devastating. So we showed them how they can just turn those pipes around and direct the water downstream and that we didn’t have that problem in 2011. So it worked out well that he listened to us,” he said.

Williams said the situation is worsening as they wait for help, and his house is slowly being washed away.

He said his house is sinking and his roof is starting to come loose, allowing water to enter his home and cause water damage and other problems.

“We hired Alabama Restoration to remove the mold from the house, bathroom and roof. It was a process, so they removed all the mold,” he said. “You can’t get someone to work on a sinking house.”

But Williams said his optimism remains high two months after top federal transportation officials visited Shiloh Township to work out a solution.

He said Secretary Pete Buttigieg promised him they would have their own plans, and Williams said he had heard talks were underway.

“I believe something big is going to happen,” he said. “We don’t know the time frame, but we believe they will say what they are going to do.”

Williams said they will be holding a town hall meeting tonight to go through the plans being submitted to the county and state so citizens are on the same page.