PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. (WTVF) — Twice in six weeks, a Cheatham County family is drying their home out from floodwaters. They believe one specific change in their neighborhood is causing water to flow into their home, and they're prepared to fight back.
A handwritten message on their van invites you to ask them: How is Sycamore High School potentially to blame for flooding their home—twice?
“That’s why the debris line is so heavy all of the seed from the ball field… everyone up here knows,” said Anitra and Ron Lawson.
“I build houses for a living. I’m a licensed contractor, and sending stormwater runoff our way is illegal. It’s illegal. You cannot do it,” said Ron.
When rainwater surged into their home in February, the contractor couple went to work, spending thousands of dollars to improve their drainage. “They keep saying I’m in a low spot, in the low spot. No, I’m not,” Ron said.
Their home started flooding again six weeks later during the days-long April rainstorm.
“I stayed up all night fighting the water. I couldn’t cut no more tiles, everything — I said, 'I’m not gonna let my house flood again.' My God, it was like the Titanic,” said Ron.
Ron told us about a conversation he had with his neighbor. “He said, 'Your front yard is nothing but a rock. What happened?' I said, 'You tell me!'”
The pair said updates to the nearby high school ball field are now funneling storm water to their front yard.
“If they want this to be their runoff retention pond, that’s fine; then buy it from the people and talk to the people, but don’t just take their property and treat it like it’s worthless,” said Anitra.
“They pushed us out of our home. My wife’s dream home. She drew it, designed it, planned it. We built it. We love it out here; they have just totally thrown us to the side,” said the Lawsons.
It may have been their dream home, but it’s quickly turned into a nightmare. “I broke my back to get here. This was our forever home, and they just destroyed it."
Cheatham County Schools told us they had no comment.
The Lawsons are working through their insurance but said considering their property is not in a flood zone, they don’t have flood insurance.
If you have thoughts on this story, email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
