Several areas of west Fort Worth received a lot of rain in a short amount of time Monday, which means flooding.
The Arlington Heights neighborhood is pretty familiar to flooding and while the city improved drainage on some streets, Western Avenue remains the lone holdout. It flooded heavily once again Monday morning, one of the worst in memory for some residents.
The steady barrage of rain turned Bryce and Western Avenue into a raging river
"This is probably either the worst or second to worst here, that I've seen," said resident Todd C. Brown.
On Bryce, a large pick-up truck got stuck near a Walgreens where the water nearly reached the door handles.
A T Bus, Route 25, avoided the water there, but had to navigate just as treacherous and flooded waters on Western Avenue, where front yards were briefly turned into mini-lakes.
"Every time it rains this is what we have to deal with here on Western," Brown said. "And we've been promised that it's being taken care of and something will get done and here we are watching destruction again."
Slabs of asphalt littered the street once the water receded. The pieces were so heavy that a city backhoe was required to lift them up.
At a duplex near the lowest point in the street, property owner Amy Yanez checked out her tenant's flooded apartments. The same apartments flooded just last June.
"Four months after we finished the renovations, we've got great tenants to move in but we got the flood again," Yanez said. "We may have to ask them to leave today.
For years the city has talked about a fix for the street. But while neighboring streets have received storm water upgrades Western still has not.
"These homes were built in a flood plain, on top of a creek bed, and it's just difficult to engineer around it," said Dennis Shingleton, who represents the area on the city council.
The engineering solution, including a water retention pond along Bryce, is set to start next week but will take a year and a half to finish. Even then councilman Shingleton says there's no guarantee.
"We're hoping it'll make some difference here, it's not a complete fix," he said.
That's not what residents like Brown, and others, want to hear as frustration builds on the flood prone avenue.
"Nobody should have to live like this, no one should have to deal with this," Brown said. "No one should have to be scared when they're sitting on their couch and they hear thunder and lightning and this is what you walk out to."
The issue of not being designated as a flood zone is particularly frustrating. That means property owners won't receive the full cost of what it takes to make repairs.
