Irene Williams has been dealing with flooding for as long as she can remember. At 76 years old, she’s lived in the majority Black neighborhood in north Alabama since the 1960s.

Williams told AL.com that each time it rains, water drains from the hilltop to her home.

“When it rains, it’ll flood from there to my porch,” she said. “I have to wade in water all the way.”

The neighborhood on Strain Road, divided east and west by Interstate 65, does not have storm drainage or sewer services.

And though sewer lines pass through the neighborhood, the city of Athens does not provide sewer service to the houses. Williams and her neighbors use septic tanks, and some say their homes have experienced flooding for years.

A group of neighbors, organized by the Limestone County chapter of the NAACP, went to the Athens City Council meeting in November to ask for help concerning various community needs.

After hearing resident complaints, the city cleared eyesores in the area and put up some streetlights. But, months later, residents say they still need sewer services and flooding abatement.

Neighbors returned to the city council this month after the NAACP gave the city an ultimatum to develop an infrastructural plan by the end of January to address the community’s needs.

The group is unhappy that it is almost the end of the month, and there is no sign that the city will meet the deadline.

The city has refused to meet the needs of the community and is serving “more affluent communities” with the sewer lines that pass through the neighborhoods, said Diane Steele, the political action chair of the local NAACP chapter.

Athens mayor Ronnie Marks told AL.com that the city is using surveys to identify the community’s needs.

“And we’ll come up with the best plan we can to address not only the drainage issues but the sewer issues,” he said.

Steele believes the city’s survey endeavor is a stalling tactic because the flooding and sewer issues have already persisted for years.

She told AL.com that some of the neighbors have been dealing with the same issues since they were children living there. “They are grown now. They are adult people down here still talking about the same issue,” she said.

Williams, who will be 77 in February, said the flooding damaged her house’s foundation, and she had to replace parts of the floor and remake the bathroom.

She said the incessant flooding leads to mold growth.

“There was so much mold — I’m allergic to mold,” she said as she showed AL.com ongoing repairs to replace the flooring and address the mold.

She would like to be hooked to the city’s sewer system for better sanitary living because right waste water from her washing machine flows into the street.

“It would help me with my kitchen sink and everything,” she said. “My dishwater goes in the barrel out there, where I have to keep cleaning all the slop out.”

Rickey Williams, a neighbor and relative of Irene Williams, told AL.com that he, too, would like to connect to the city’s sewer system, rather than depending on a fieldline to take waste water from his house to the surrounding woods.

But that may come with a price tag of about $4,000, a fee that a city spokesperson said the city is legally required to collect.

“They need to let us do it for free,” Rickey Williams said.

Ollie Turner, another NAACP representative, said he believes that the city is neglecting the area because most of the residents historically have been Black people.

“I feel that in my heart of hearts,” Turner told AL.com.

“It takes time, but does it take a lifetime?” Turner added.

Willie Hardy is 63 and said he now collects monthly disability checks after a workplace accident years ago. Hardy said he barely survived a crash when his truck hit a deer on the dark road right across from his house.

Speaking at the Athens council meeting on Jan. 22, Willie Hardy thanked the city for new street lights.

“I want to thank you guys for putting up the lights along Strain Road,” Hardy told the city council. “That helps us a lot because it was almost impossible to see once you came across that bridge.”

The next day in front of his house on Strain Road, Hardy told AL.com that he regularly experiences flooding.

Hardy told AL.com that he does not want to pay the $4,000 fee to link the city’s sewer line but does not mind that his monthly bill would go up to get the sewer service.

“That’s why a lot of people don’t want to do it because the connection fee is going to hit them deep,” said Hardy.

The connection fee is a one-time payment. And the average increase in monthly utility bills after connection to the sewer system is $35-$40, a city spokesperson told AL.com.

Wilbert Woodruff does not reside in the problematic areas but called for speedy attention and constant updates on any progress when he spoke at the city council meeting this month.

He said that new developments around the area are enjoying better city services.

“This is just not some community out in rural Limestone County,” he said. “This is the city of Athens. It is your responsibility to bring these people the services they need.”