EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — "I watched it on my surveillance security video. I just couldn't believe it because it filled my backyard in just 20 minutes," Terry Barnes said.
It was a torrential downpour Tuesday in East St. Louis that almost brought a weary Barnes to tears.
"It was really, really bad. It was real, real hard," she said.
Barnes said a heavy storm blew through her neighborhood at 53rd and Belmont avenues.
From the air, 5 On Your Side saw flash flooding burying her backyard, covering the playground equipment at her home daycare, ruining her patio furniture and turning streets into lakes.
"I've owned my home for years," Barnes said. "My day care business is here. I don't want to just move. It floods here all the time, but this time it comes from the back of my home. It's a pump there, like a sewer pump back there in the alley, so it came from there."
Down the street, her neighbor Stephen Moore is battling high water in his backyard and basement.
"It's bad and up to our thighs. It's not going anywhere," Moore said. "They keep sending us the sewer bills, but they need to fix the problems. I'm tired of going through this. I probably got to miss work tomorrow to pump water."
Just minutes after 5 On Your Side for to Barnes' flooded neighborhood, two officials with the East St. Louis Public Works Department showed up to talk to her.
East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts also pulled up to see the backed-up sewers, standing water and flooded mess.
"Some of our infrastructure is failing. This is a problem," Betts said.
There are two pumps at the nearby 47th Street Station.
"These are very specialized pumps," Betts said. "Some of them even have to be sent out of the country to Sweden to be repaired."
He said one pump is currently only working at half capacity.
"We are doing everything we can do," Betts said. "We're cleaning our sewers, we're bypassing water and we're pumping water.'
Frustrated flood victims just want the water woes dried up for good.
In the meantime, more rain is expected on Thursday.
"My fear is that the rain's going to get in my home. My prayer is that God holds back the rain," Barnes said.
City officials said the other pump at the 47th Street Station is "fully-functioning and can handle major flooding in that area."
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