Moore family’s storm shelter remains flooded with chest high water
MOORE, Okla. – Having a safe place in Oklahoma was a priority for one Moore family when looking for a new rental home, but their storm shelter is filled with five feet of standing water.
“We didn’t really want to move to Moore,” Joshua Olsen said.
But with a newborn and two dogs, the Olsen family needed a bigger home.
Their new resting place was a neighborhood with a track record of twisters.
“All the older houses through here are the ones that got hit by the big tornado in 1999,” Olsen said.
Added to the stress of moving, another issue came flooding in.
The couple had one condition when renting the home.
Their new house in Moore needed a storm shelter.
Olsen said their property manager warned them of a slight leak underground.
“They said it’s your job to pump out the water a few times a year,” Olsen said. “It was only like 8 inches of water they said.”
After less than three months in their new home, the 8 inches turned into five feet of standing water making their safe place unusable.
Every time they try to pump it out, within 24 hours the Olsen’s say it’s back to chest high water.
“It’s ridiculous,” Olsen said. “They are not going to come look at it or fix it.”
We reached out to the owner of the rental home.
They tell News 4 tenants are required to keep their storm shelters clean but say there’s nothing in writing about maintenance issues inside them.
“I feel like I’m being drug along,” Olsen said.
For now the Olsen’s say their problem with the standing water remains at a standstill.
“If they can’t fix it then maybe we need to break our contract and move somewhere else,” Olsen said.
The property manages adds the storm shelters in that area of town are old and she’s still working on finding a company to help fix the problem.