By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
The heavy rains from Gustav this week were a true test to the drainage improvements Cabot has made in the Heights neighborhood during the summer.
Bobbie and Jim Lovell, retirees who live on Mary Ann Circle, have worried about rising water from clogged ditches beside their home for the past 10 years until Mayor Eddie Joe Williams and the street department worked to improve water flow away from the area.
“The mayor, Jerry Cole with the street department, and the city workers did a fantastic job. We are all so grateful,” said Bobbie Lovell.
“The water would come halfway up the back and the front yards, and had nowhere to go. It never got up to our door, ” Lovell said.
Before work started on the ditches, the water would be ankle-deep in their yard. Water would stand in nearby ditches and pool on the street, she said.
Mrs. Lovell said she and her husband had discussed their concerns with the city’s past two mayors about the run-off water, but they wouldn’t fix the drainage problems.
She said they talked to Mayor Williams five months ago about the ditches, and in less than three months the city made upgrades to the drainage.
A month ago, the city install-ed two drainage pipes and carved a ditch to let water flow away from the Heights subdivision at the corner of Southaven Avenue and Michael Drive and flow to a field behind Fire Station 4.
The mayor also contacted the highway department, which two weeks ago brought equipment to clear out the trees and brush growing in a ditch along Hwy. 321, allowing water to run away from residents’ backyards, according to Lovell.
“The mayor really got on the ball,” Mrs. Lovell said.
She continued, “We can’t believe it. All this rain, and no water has gotten out of the ditches. There is no comparison.”
Lovell said the mayor came to her house on Wednesday during the downpours to check on the conditions of the ditches.
She said they would have been in trouble if the city had not worked on the drainage. The Lovells do not have flood insurance because the home was not built in a flood plain.
“Our new mayor is a great guy. He is wonderful and good for the people of Cabot,” Mrs. Lovell said.