The hidden costs of flooding in D.C.’s poorest wards

Photo via Washington City Paper.

From Washington City Paper:

When teacher’s aide Elizabeth Hall first purchased her home in Capitol View, a neighborhood located on the eastern edge of D.C., she was excited to become one of the first members of her family to own property she could pass down to future generations. 

But a few months after moving in, heavy rainfall flooded her finished basement. Water seeped through the foundation and soaked the carpet the previous owner had recently installed. At first, she considered it a one-time problem, but the flooding continued. Now, 26 years later, she says any time the basement floods, she disassociates from it. 

“When there’s water down there, I don’t even want to look at it,” says Hall. “There’s nothing I can do, there’s nowhere for me to sweep it off.”