KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville staff said debris in the drainage system helped cause major flooding on 23rd Street in Fort Sanders on Thursday.
"If that debris was not there, I do not think we would be talking and I do not think anybody in that community would have been impacted," said Chris Howley, the city's engineering planning chief.
Howley told 10News that the clogged pipe is about 6 feet tall. However, he said the blockage of debris is so big city staff believe it is only carrying about 5% of water.
"What we can see in the blockage from the downstream side is a laundry basket and some plastic and some other materials that we cannot really identify," he said. "But there is definitely debris that is obstructing that pipe system."
Howley said they cannot tell if those items were there before the storm or if the stormwater dragged them down into the pipes. Regardless, he said there is not much they can do right now.
"Right now there is so much pressure from the water, you cannot really do anything about that debris," he said. "And if someone did try to it would be dangerous because you might get sucked into the system."
On Monday, the city's engineering department told 10News crews found a leather chair, bikes and jackets in the pipes.
The flooding impacted 38 apartments from Society 865, and 15 people had to move into a hotel nearby, paid for by the complex.
Landmark, the company that owns Society 865, said in a statement that it is "deeply saddened that residents have been impacted by recent heavy rains that led to flooding."
The scene on Friday on 23rd Street looked much different than on Thursday. Where people would be walking through feet of water checking on their cars or getting out of their apartments, there is now barely any water on the ground.
The city of Knoxville installed pumps in the area to help drain it. Howley said city staff was expecting to finish draining by the end of the day.
"We are going to evaluate it and see if there are opportunities to be able to prevent it from happening again," he said. "It clearly was a substantial issue long term. Most of the time we are accustomed to, if we do have some flooding, it usually drains down fairly quickly afterward. And in a circumstance like this, it clearly did not without the assistance of pumps and so we definitely do not want it to happen again."