BYRON, Ga. — When a concerned neighbor reached out to 13WMAZ during severe weather coverage in January, Tracie Smith-Richardson said she wanted something done about the excessive flooding in her neighborhood.
"It's just a lot of promises like they're over-promising, but they're truly under-delivering," Smith-Richardson said. "I want them to take action. I want them to help save us."
She and her neighbors at Manchester Place said they've been going back and forth with the City of Byron, Peach County and their homeowners' association for years.
It's unclear if the problem is flooding, draining or both.
"That would be a question for the public works department, which can better answer that," City Administrator Tiffany Sandefur said.
However, the Byron Public Works Department has not returned 13WMAZ's request for comments since our initial report in January.
The mail was supposed to be delivered when 13WMAZ went to the neighborhood last month, but the postal service vehicle had to make a U-turn in the middle of standing water while we were there.
On Monday, when Central Georgia had heavy rain again, Tracie sent a video of her grandkids picked up by their bus in the flood in front of their home.
"His father has to carry him across to get on the bus," Smith-Richardson said, recording the video.
In the video, a few people can be seen scurrying through the water in the rain to the bus.
Many neighbors said they've been asking for drainage improvements for years and want to know the status of the city's plans.
In July, they received a letter from the city of Byron saying they were working on a plan.
"The plans that we are looking at now were presented to us Monday," Sandefur said.
The city administrator continued, "We're trying to decide right now which one is best getting some input from our engineers on our options, then we'd have to go in to see if we need to acquire a land or just easements."
As far as a timeline goes, Sandefur said she could not estimate when the city will decide on which plan to go with.
"At this time, we don't have a time frame on when all of this will be accomplished, but we are actively working on it," Sandefur said.
She encourages Manchester Place neighbors to share information with her about the neighborhood's flood problems as the city discusses plans for improvement.
Sandefur said folks in Byron who are dealing with similar issues can reach out to Byron's public works department for help.
13WMAZ reached out to Byron's Public Works but have yet to return our calls.