Caught Between a Rock and a Wet Place

Ted Johnson figures he’s been sandbagged twice as the result of flood waters sweeping through his San Pedro home.

An emergency crew did the first job, constructing a levee around his house last year in hopes of protecting him from a storm drain behind his backyard that floods the place every time it overflows.

But the other sandbagging, according to Johnson, has come at the hands of Los Angeles city officials who he says reneged this year on an offer to buy his home and get him out of the flood zone.

Johnson is among a growing number of Los Angeles-area homeowners who say they have weathered floods only to drown in governmental red tape after the water has receded.

In the nearby Harbor City area, eight families inundated by an overflowing county storm drain have filed a lawsuit to force the county to pay for damage to their homes. Homeowners’ insurance policies routinely exclude flood coverage.

“The county people came out and said they were to blame and they’d take care of us. Then the nightmare started,” said Vivian Nemie, a 51-year-old hairdresser who says her residence received $138,000 in damage in a 1995 flood. “You file a claim and it sits on somebody’s desk for months.”

Johnson, 59, said he is dreading the upcoming rainy season.

The retired aerospace company financial officer uses a wheelchair because of polio he contracted as a teenager. Even though his home of 25 years remains ringed by sandbags, he fears that he could become trapped if the West 27th Street residence is inundated.

He’s had close calls twice. Water nearly two feet deep surged through the three-bedroom house in December 1992 and almost short-circuited his battery-operated wheelchair. The same thing happened in January 1995.

“I heard noise and woke up and got into my chair,” Johnson said. “It was dark. I couldn’t figure out why my wheels were spinning on the carpeting.”

Johnson blames the flooding on an undersized city storm drain installed in the late 1980s near Western Avenue and 25th Street. When runoff from uphill streets overflows the drain, it spills into his backyard and that of next-door neighbor Dean Lawrence.

After the 1992 flood, Johnson and Lawrence contend, they were assured that the city would fix the drain problem and pay for damage to carpeting, wood flooring, furniture and appliances--including the freezer that washed out of Johnson’s house and down the street.

“The city people were very apologetic,” Johnson said. “They said they’d take care of us. Then they turned us over to their lawyers and nothing happened.”

After the 1995 flood, however, the city offered to buy Johnson’s house for $325,000 and pay an additional $45,000 for destroyed furnishings. Lawrence was offered $290,000 for his house, plus $54,000 for his furnishings, according to city records.

Earlier this year, both men accepted. But the deals never went through.

Paperwork that the pair were told would take about 30 days to be approved by the City Council has bounced from lawyer to lawyer in the city attorney’s office for 10 months without being forwarded to council members. These days, the status of the purchase offer is unknown.

Said lawyer Cheryl Ward, who drafted the purchase offer: “I’m not handling the case anymore.”

Said Michael Fox, who took the case from Ward: “I don’t know anything about it. All I was trying to do is get it reassigned.”

Said Greg Orland, who briefly worked on it after that: “I do not know what its status is at all.”

Said William Waterhouse, who worked on it next: “Who said it was assigned to me? I only worked on it as an emergency.”

Said Les Pinchuk, who helped with settlement discussions: “I’m not handling the case. It’s in our liabilities section.”

The most recent city lawyer to get the case, Ken Cirlin, said last week that he is just starting his review of the case.

“I just don’t know enough about it to discuss it,” said his boss, Patty Tubert. She blamed the delay on the case being transferred between the city attorney’s civil liability and real property offices.

The Harbor City residents living along Stonecliff and Sandhurst lanes say their case is further complicated by a dispute between two county departments--Public Works and Sanitation. Although Public Works’ storm channel overflowed, much of the damage was from sewage that was carried into homes when the flood spilled into a sewer project trench. Cars floated away, clothing and furniture were ruined, and lawns and buildings were saturated with the waste water, according to homeowners.

“Is it Public Works’ problem or is it Sanitation’s?” Nemie said. “It’s a bureaucracy. Nobody is claiming any responsibility.”

Donna Guyovich, a Public Works spokeswoman, suggested that the homeowners be patient.

“If you have a legitimate claim, stick by it. We do a thorough investigation. If it’s the county’s fault, we’ll certainly pay. . . . We just don’t rush these things,” she said.

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Johnson and Lawrence, meanwhile, have hired a lawyer to prod officials. Lawrence, a 50-year-old city fire captain who now lives in Torrance, said he has refinanced his present home because of the damage. “I can’t rent it or sell it, but I’m still making mortgage payments and paying taxes,” he said.

Johnson keeps watching the weather forecasts and worrying about his 13-year-old daughter, Chelsea. She keeps all of her belongings on boxes and tables and frets that her low-to-the-ground English bulldog, Jake, will drown in the next flood.

Chelsea is also nervous about fire. With the sandbags piled around the house, “we only have one door in and out of here,” she said.

Johnson said he’s ready to leave the sandbags behind the minute the stalemate ends.

“This is like living in Bosnia or someplace,” Johnson said. “It’s almost beyond civilized behavior.”