Fort Worth man uses digital board to express flooding concerns
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth man frustrated by newly-developed flooding is showing it in a big way.
The property owner put up a video board big enough that it can almost be seen from city hall. He’s worried about flooding in his neighborhood, and nobody can’t miss his message.
Mark Singletary says normally it would cost $12,000 a day for the video board. But he owns the company that put it up. He plans to keep up the display until he feels he’s seeing some results.
Singletary put up the giant video board in his front yard. It plays video he took of the flooded street in front of his property after the heavy rains a couple of weeks ago. That size video board is big enough to stand out even on 20 acres.
“Water was running this way in front of my house as it’s never done before. It came within 2 and a half inches of getting into the house.”
There’s text over the video that warns buyers to beware. There are two housing developments going up near Singletary’s property, which he believes have contributed to flooding in his neighborhood. He says he’s not opposed to the developments.
“It’s inevitable,” he said. “And if done properly, it’s welcomed.”
“That particular development was in the very, very early stage,” said Greg Simmons with the Fort Worth Storm Management Department. “All they had done was cut some access areas and the rain hit at that point and time. We’re trying to work with them to make sure they got the right measures in place to protect people.”
Singletary took his flooding video to city hall last week to lay the problem at their feet. He wants the city council to fix the infrastructure he says has been stressed beyond its capacity. Other property owners went to the council with images of how their properties have been affected.
“We are assessing the systems as best as we can make to try and make sure the system there is doing as well as it can and to make sure the development is not making things worse,” Simmons said.