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Ogden homeowners frustrated over mysterious, endless flooding source

Posted at 9:22 PM, Jul 07, 2015
and last updated 2015-07-07 23:22:19-04

OGDEN, Utah -- Since June 28, an Ogden family has pumped more than 20,000 gallons of water out of their basement, and there is no end in sight.

The water continues to pour in from underneath the floor and behind the walls of the Douglas Street home, and no one seems to know where it is coming from.

"Every 25 to 30 minutes around the clock we are down here sucking this out," said homeowner Jessica Smith.

Smith doesn't know if she needs a plumber or detective, when it comes figuring out why water keeps leaking into her basement.

"I would like to find the source of this water, right now it kind of seems like a witch hunt," said Smith. "There is obviously a cause for this, We've called Weber Water Basin, we called plumbers, we called city engineers."

The city says it's not their responsibility but they will do all they can to help.

"So we're still doing some investigation into it, nothing thus far has indicated that it has anything to do with our pipes," said Kenton Moffett, Ogden Public Utilities Manager.

The city says at this point the most logical explanation is ground water.

"Well it rained a lot in May, so I mean sometimes it can delay, ground water is a tricky thing it's hard to tell," said Moffett.

Smith isn't satisfied with this explanation.

"I think that's baloney, I really do, to have this much water as ground water is unheard of and to have it keep coming," said Smith.

Smith says they had recently invested $10,000 finishing the basement, and were just days away from putting the house on the market.

"Unfortunately, you can't put a house on the market that's underwater, nobody is going to want to buy this, nobody is going to want to look at this," said Smith.

The Smiths aren't alone, next door Alison Lundell is splashing through her own mess. Both of these homeowners say their insurance will not cover this.

"You know we are not in a flood plane so they just say they can't do anything, sorry it didn't happen in your house, it's outside, so we're screwed," said Lundell.

Despite having no explanation or solution to the flooding, these families say they must remain strong for their children.

"So we put a big sign on the door, 'come in, scuba gear welcome, but optional,' we try to keep it light, if we are down about this for 10 days it can get depressing," said Smith.

The city of Ogden said they are in the process of bringing in some new high-tech equipment and plan to continue investigating the cause of the flooding on July 15.