SUFFOLK, Va. - Edward Duffy says his backyard is completely dry and normal about half of the year.
The other half, there is a miniature lake, surrounded by muddy, soggy grass.
"There's like high spots and low spots and it just can`t go anywhere," says Duffy. "We're talking about serious water."
Duffy says he moved into the home along Hubbard Avenue, in the Pughsville area of North Suffolk, about five years ago.
He says a piece of land in his backyard was supposed to be a street, but was never put in.
"When it dries up, it looks like a normal yard, but unfortunately it's only that way about half the time of the year. We have mosquitoes out the wazoo, you can't believe the mosquitoes we have," he says. " I called the public utilities, I also called the engineering department, and they said they have no plans to do anything."
NewsChannel 3 reached out to the city of Suffolk about Duffy's backyard.
Through e-mail, Diana Klink, the Director of Media and Community Relations for Suffolk, says the land was never improved to be a street and is not maintained by the city.
However, Klink says, Hubbard Avenue is maintained by the city and Public Works routinely cleans ditches in that area.
"One of the biggest problems with the Pughsville community is that it was developed many decades ago without the benefit of having a master drainage plan. Several years ago the City Council funded a master drainage plan for the community," said Klink in an e-mail to NewsChannel 3. "In the current year there is $250,000 in funding available to begin constructing drainage improvements, which were recommended in the drainage study. In the proposed CIP there is an additional $1 Million being recommended for further drainage improvements in Pughsville."
It's unclear if the plan includes the drain that Duffy is hoping for.
"I will keep calling the city to see if I can get any improvement, any help as far as that goes."
