OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Flood water caused the most damage in Omaha’s Karen Addition following last night’s storm.
People living in the neighborhood, located next to the Little Papio Creek, are accustomed to high water. Some residents ordered bigger garbage cans to clean up the mess.
Basement flooded to the ceiling
At the Winnicki home, a large amount of flood water ended up in the basement.
“It’s flooded all the way to the ceiling and in our house is three and a half, four foot standing and it just stood for a long time,” said Verlynn Winnicki, a Karen Addition resident. “Our basement is eight foot high and then we had three feet upstairs, three or four feet and we came out here you couldn’t see this four and a half foot fence at all.”
Verlynn and her family had to be evacuated. Her son, Jeffry, pulled out his kayak to help.
“Rescued me, got me over to L Street. Once we got to L Street the police helped me out of the kayak and then he went back, he got one, two, three neighbors and then a lady with a little baby,” Jeffry said.
Streets covered in mud
Neighborhood streets are covered in mud. Pumps are working to get water out of places where it is not supposed to be.
“We got water all the way up to here, it was up to here,” one resident said.
Cupertino Perez and his family had to leave their home because the water was rising too high.
“Yes, we have to leave really quick cause the water really bad in this area,” said Cupertino Perez, a Karen Addition resident.
Pat Holeton did not leave his home in the a Karen Addition. He rode it out. He said he cannot believe the timing of the storm and the flood that followed.
“We just added a new air conditioner and heater put in and some work inside, from another storm we had all new siding and all new gutters,” Holeton said. “This was about four years ago, and ah, just can’t win.”
Belongings left to dry
Rita Fleming has a lot of her belongings on her porch, trying to dry them out. Her entire neighborhood is covered in mud and wet.
“We didn’t get nervous about it getting so high you had to get on your roof to save your life, so we did OK,” said Rita Fleming, a Karen Addition resident.
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