Woman says she can’t leave neighborhood because it looks like ‘a levee had broken’

ST. PARIS — Flooding got so bad in parts of the Miami Valley on Saturday that people could not leave their homes.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, high water did not go down in parts of Champaign County on Saturday.

Heavy rain moved through late Friday night and early Saturday.

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News Center 7’s Malik Patterson spent Saturday in Champaign County.

He spoke with a woman who had to wade through her flooded yard to talk with him.

Beth Defoor has lived in her St. Paris neighborhood for nine years. She told Patterson that it had flooded before, but not like this.

“I called my landlord. I said the water is really coming in fast this time, really fast this time. It was like a levee had broken,” she said.

Before she knew it, her entire home was surrounded by water.

“I’m stressed out a little bit, because my car is trapped in the garage, because there’s this much water, and they’re afraid that if I back it out, it’s going to choke the exhaust. So, I’m stranded,” said Defoor.

She said her neighborhood looks like a pond.

Previously on News Center 7 at 6:00, Patterson spoke with a man who owns a white shed where his lawnmower and tools were.

Cody Stanley, Champaign County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) deputy director, drove around on Saturday and assessed the damage.

“It does not take a lot of water to sweep your feet out from underneath you and wash you away. And then we have a whole big problem on our hands,” he said.

Defoor wants to know what the city can do about the flooding issue.

“This is ridiculous, because I don’t live in New Orleans, next to a floodplain that I have. This is something I should not have to worry about all the time,” she said.

Stanley said that they are making reports about all of the flooding.

News Center 7 will continue to update this story.

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