LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -- Some neighbors in Lackawanna are losing their backyards to Smokes Creek. This is happening on Sharon Parkway, and they want something done about it.
"This is just the beginning of what is going to be a catastrophe for the homes downstream here," said Thomas DiVito.
DiVito and his wife, Patricia, have lived in their Sharon Parkway home in Lackawanna for 27 years. Their backyard backs up to Smokes Creek, and its banks are rapidly eroding.
"It is unsafe to be standing here. The ground is weakened. I would say we've lost 20 to 30 feet at least in this spot here, and it's moving closer to the back of my house also," says DiVito.
DiVito put up caution tape between his home and his neighbor's to discourage people from hanging out along the creek. He says that the stretch of the creek behind their homes was 24 feet wide when he moved in. Now it's at least twice that.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a flood control project at Smokes Creek in the 1960s and straightened the creek out to improve ice flow. Control of the creek was then turned over to the City of Lackawanna.
This year, the state completed a dredging project along other stretches, but DiVito says that didn't stop what's happening to his property.
"Oh, I know what the solution is. I want shoring pounded in here back to the original depth of my property, and I want it backfilled so we can stop this," he says.
DiVito has taken his concerns to the city council. The city is trying to find funding for the project. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was not able to get us the information we requested about Smokes Creek on Tuesday to find out when the erosion issue might be addressed.