Video of flooding at Foxconn construction site raises concerns

MOUNT PLEASANT (CBS 58) - Flooding has become a growing concern at the Foxconn construction site.

This after a video surfaces of water breaking through a barrier at the site.

The village says it was taken care of quickly, but concerned residents say it’s part of a much bigger problem.

“it was very, very easy to see where the incident was happening,” said Kelly Gallaher, who posted the video.

Gallaher is part of a community group called A Better Mount Pleasant. The group says the village wasn’t paying enough attention to the flooding.

“We feel that at minimum that it’s been going on for at least a week and that’s a big concern for us,” said Gallaher.

The village says this rainwater runoff was a rare event caused by the recent heavy rains.

In a statement to CBS 58 the project director for Mount Pleansant says:

“That is absolutely not true,” said Gallaher, “we’ve been hearing for days about problems, concerns from residents about the water.”

A company hired to monitor rain runoff says they check the site every week, and after each rainfall over a half inch.

But Gallaher isn’t buying it. “This problem was discovered when residents climbed into a ditch with a cell phone,” said Gallaher, “they weren’t doing their job, and ultimately oversight was left to residents and that’s a gigantic failure.”

On Wednesday the breakthrough is fixed and water isn’t flowing, but residents like Gallaher want assurances it won’t happen again.

“What we want the village to do is to be clear to the people that they are actually being proactive, that they are serving as the oversight that they’re meant to be,” said Gallaher.

The water was flowing into Lampark Creek, then into the Pike River.

Along with fixing the hole the village says additional measures have been taken to prevent the runoff from happening again.