Residents Blame Google For Intensified Flooding

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- South Austin homeowners think Google is to blame for recent intensified flooding in their neighborhoods after the company began digging to lay down a fiber network in the area.

One resident told KXAN-TV his home had never flooded in 15 years of living there until a Google contractor started construction in residents’ yards as part of their 3,000-mile network being installed throughout Austin.

“This is a man-made error, not a natural error,” homeowner Steven Garza told the television station. “My neighbors are all stressing as well.”

Heavy rains in October caused flooding in some parts of the city, but some South Austin residents say the situation intensified because of the dug-up yards for work conducted by Google Fiber contractor MasTec.

Garza said he got up at night to use the bathroom only to find his bedroom had been flooded.

“I get up and use the restroom and the bedroom is full of water,” he said. “So I had assumed something had broken in the kitchen, and that wasn’t the case.”

He theorized gutter socks used by MasTec during construction exacerbated the problem. Water from the heavy October rain wasn’t able to run off into the gutter after contractors failed to remove them prior to the storms, Garza said.

While the companies don’t admit guilt in the matter, insurance settlements have been offered to some affected homeowners. Google issued a general statement explaining they would investigate the matter to understand the root cause of the intensified flooding.

“Our sympathies are with the families affected by the historic Halloween floods,” the statement reads. “We’re still working closely with our contractors to understand the details of this situation. Whenever we learn of issues, we do everything we can to identify and resolve them appropriately.

Representatives of MasTec didn’t respond to requests for comment.