ST. MARYS, Ga. — People in one Southeast Georgia community have "lakefront property" they didn't ask for, nor do they want.
When it rains, it floods, in the Colerain Oaks neighborhood in St. Marys. Neighbors say they have been asking the city for help for years, only to receive temporary fixes with no long-term solutions.
The Ask Anthony team is trying to help the community get answers and a resolution.
"Do you guys need a ride in the truck?" Lynelle Davis yelled to a neighbor.
It's a Thursday morning and Davis is trying to help her residents get to work and school.
"Once again we're out here drowning and left to ourselves to solve the problem," Davis said.
The problem, according to Davis, a culvert under Colerain Road that needs to be cleaned and a ditch that needs to be dug out.
"Ditches drain slow, water rises fast. It's simple math," Davis said.
Simple math, but if you ask Davis, city leaders are taking too long to find an answer to this equation.
"It's an easy fix. It's just somebody needs to do their job," Davis added.
For 25 years, Davis' job has been managing this neighborhood of about 200 rental homes and fighting a battle involving the culvert.
"They knew this one is undersized for the last 20 something years and still haven't fixed it," she said.
First Coast News' chief photographer captured drone video on August 22 after it rained in the area.
"My residents wake up at 6 a.m. to go to work," Davis said. "They have to make a choice whether they're going to lose their vehicle trying to go out or either lose an entire day's worth of pay."
Davis and others in the neighborhood are trying to keep their heads, and their frustrations, above water.
"It's going to be like Atlantis. We're going to be the city under the water."
On July 5, Davis sent an email to St Marys City Manager Robby Horton saying:
"I know you get tired of hearing from me. I did want to make you aware that the ditches on Colerain Road are the worst that I have ever seen. There is no way that any water is going to drain through them, especially on the Colerain Oaks side of Bambi Drive."
Last week, when the rain was coming down, Davis sent another email that read:
"This is the beginning of storm season, and things will only get worse. Public works has kicked us down road for years now. I will no longer allow your public works department to treat us this manner. Help this community by showing up and doing something other than a useless drive by. You have several city employees that live in this community, show them that you care!"
Anthony Austin spoke on the phone with City Manager Robby Horton Thursday morning. He said they are working on cleaning out the culverts and inspecting them to prevent the flooding from happening. Horton said a lot of the water on the property goes out on the backside and some of the drainage issues involve private property. However, Davis disputes some of the information.
Anthony also spoke with City Council member Lisa James who visited Colerain Oaks on Wednesday. She agrees that something needs to be done and a solution needs to be figured out.