Bend’s partial flood payment riles homeowners

A recent water main break left behind plenty of damage for some northeast Bend residents, but the city is refusing to pay the full bill for damages — and that has some upset homeowners planning legal action..

The city announced Thursday it will pay for some emergency work done, but not all, at the the affected homes, claiming there was no negligence and it’s not the city’s fault.

Early on Wednesday, June 10, a 12-inch water main suddenly developed an 8 1/2-foot-long crack, spewing 300,000 gallons of water into homes and basements near Northeast Ravenwood Drive off Eighth Street in Bend before city crews could get it shut off..

The city said will pay for the extraction of water, sanitation and drying inside the flood-hit homes, but not for yard work or other repairs

Heidi Robles said Thursday her basement was completely filled with water, “to about a foot from the ceiling. And all my possessions that were down there were soaked.”

Her next-door neighbor, Scott Jennrich, said his garage was flooded, along with their utility room, and most of their front yard got washed out.

“The city seemed they knew they were to blame right away, because within 15 minutes of getting the water shut off, there was a city employee here handing out the phone number for their legal department,” Jennrich said.

According to Jennrich, the city was constantly communicating with them, up until recently. And he didn’t find out about the press release until he heard it on the radio.

“Irate is all I can think of,” he said. “Mad — I’m mad at the city attorney, mad at the city manager. Reading that press release, I disagree with some things in that press release. I mean, I was here, standing here. I don’t know what ‘throttled down’ means, but the water was running for an hour. It doesn’t matter, you know, if it’s running three feet high or two high. When there’s water running into your house, it’s an issue.”

Jennrich said he learned his homeowner insurance does not cover if water comes from off your property on your property’s surface. They filed a claim, but it was denied right away.

Jennrich says his home sustained $25,000 worth of damages, and the city is willing to pay some of that cleanup. But there’s another $15,000 worth of damages that includes landscaping, irrigation and potential damage to their rooms or garage.

Behind Robles’ and Jennrich’s house, Tim Kaiser lives the next block over, where his garage was flooded. He inspected underneath his house, and found water reached eight to nine inches. But as of right now, he is undecided if he’s going to take any legal action.

“It seems to me that, how will I ever know to expect this kind of an issue?” Kaiser said. “We’re in a desert. Who expects a flood?”