Rainfall causing some Grants Pass residents to lose their land

Grants Pass, Ore., — “Together we’re watching this fall. It’s falling while we’re standing here.”

This culvert used to be significantly smaller, but because of heavy rain and snow, it’s now three times the size.

“It is what it is, the damage is here. It’s crawling the gals property pretty bad, it’s eating away her land. It’s still going on. From a couple days ago she’s lost probably another 5 feet here, probably 10 feet back there. But at this point you can’t stop it.”

It first burst open a few weeks ago, but land owner Steven Fitchie says this has been an ongoing problem for years.

“It’s been a couple of years that we’ve been making complaints, or trying to get someone to come out here to reshore it up, maybe rock it, do whatever. Cause everyone along this thing is losing dirt.”

It’s taken numerous complaints from neighbors up and down the creek to finally get something done about it.

“You get 20 or 30 neighbors freaking out, and then people down the creek, they got hit with all that water and all that mud. So it ruined properties all the way down the creek.”

And while Fitchie is happy it will be taken care of, it will come at a cost.

“Between tearing up the property, and the neighbors freaking out and losing land, losing trees, you’re talking about giant trees that take 80 years to grow. She’s not gonna get that stuff back.”

© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.

Skip to content