CBS6 Investigates: Albany woman wants city to pay after parked cars flood during storm

ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) - An Albany woman is pointing blame at the city for cars flooding on two residential streets.

Torrential rain put a number of parked cars on her street underwater in an area that doesn't usually flood, but will the city pay the damages?

“The inside of my car was completely flooded, the car mats in the front the back.”

On Sunday, Molly Gruss was knee-high in floodwater trying to save her car from the storm.

“The water was about here, (showing level) all of this was standing water,” Gruss said.

Gruss snapped off photos to document the damage, and the water line. Despite vacuuming, draining, and paying for cleaning, she can't get the water out. It’s been three days.

“There’s still water in it. I go up and down hills, the water resurfaces. It’s smelly and I just don’t feel like I should have to pay for that,” Gruss said.

An area of Lancaster Street east of North Pine flooded about two feet, but the area of Lancaster closest to North Pine and a portion of North Pine itself, got it the worst. A silver car has been parked there ever since, we’re told the water came all the way up to the seats.

Gruss blames the city. She says drains were working on one side of the street, but not the end near North Pine.

“I feel like they didn’t take proper precautions knowing the storm was going to come,” Gruss said.

Albany Water Commissioner Joe Coffey says Lancaster Street is not usually flood prone, and calls what happened a unique event.

“Our response was they need to file a claim with the Corporations Office with the city,” Gruss said.

He says damage reimbursement is a possibility.

“It’ll be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Every property claim is looked into in its own right,” Coffey said.

As to why the street flooded, he says it's unclear whether debris was blocking the drain, or if it was just overpowered by water.

To avoid another disaster, he urges residents to call if they see blocked drains.

“Call our dispatch office. We will call someone out within 15-20 minutes,” Coffey said.

During today’s storm (Wednesday), Gruss sent in new video showing her street is flooding again! The silver car we mentioned earlier appeared close to be taking on water again.