NORWAY – Water began trickling into the basement of Tere Porter’s home on Suomela Lane on Sunday afternoon, and by nightfall the floor stood under nearly 8 inches of runoff and lake water.
Some would say spring flooding is the price one pays for living next to a body of water, and Porter’s back door is steps away from the northern shore of Lake Pennesseewassee.
Porter, however, feels differently.
“This is just totally unnecessary,” he said Monday afternoon, standing atop a picnic table in his back yard and looking over the waterline that had crept up his home. “The obvious solution is to drop the lake back down to what it used to be.”
Porter and his wife, Judy, have lived in their home for 40 years.
She said fish have been swimming around the basement furniture since the waters rose Sunday. “We don’t have any pictures of the fish yet, but the fish are there.”
Her husband thinks the town has gradually allowed the level of Lake Pennesseewassee to climb.
“I’m sick of the town of Norway playing Russian roulette with my house,” he said.
Porter does not have records, and the town does not agree with his assessment. The one indisputable fact in the case may be that Porter’s cedar-sided home sits at a low point on Suomela Lane.
With or without records, Porter feels the town should be more aware of pending weather conditions and react more effectively. He said he called Road Commissioner Ron Springer a month ago, then again last week, to request that water be let from the lake. Springer dropped the lake a foot and a half, Porter said. “Well, he should have dropped it two and a half.”
Town Manager David Holt said he feels for Porter, but there’s nothing he can do. “I don’t have the ability to prevent 4 inches of rain from falling in April,” he said Monday.
Holt said he told Porter the only resolution may be a lawsuit.
While Porter has complained that the town should lower the lake or pay to have his house elevated or moved, Holt said there would be no action unless forced by a court.
Norway, Holt said, will face hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages due to the flooding that occurred over the weekend. At least 15 roads were partially or fully closed due to flooding Sunday and Monday, and the Norway Fire Department assisted with 20 or so calls due to flooded basements, Holt said.
On Sunday, Porter was forced to set up a pump and run a hose from the side of the house to try to reduce the water level. He had to disconnect his furnace, a freezer and his washer and dryer. He has wood heat, but said it could be at least a week before he has hot water as he waits for his furnace to dry out.
“I don’t see any need to draw lawyers into this. Just lower the lake,” Porter said.
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