ROME TOWNSHIP - Some Rome residents have had enough and now they are fighting back.

Residents are angry over the drainage problem caused by the construction to the Chesapeake Bypass.

The group hosted a meeting Wednesday in Proctorville to discuss the situation and to decide what action, if any, to take from here. Many residents from the areas turned out to attend the meeting.

"First of all, we appreciate the bypass," resident Tom Sullivan said at the start of the meeting. "But they dropped the ball on the drainage problem."

Jean Walters, a Gardner Lane resident, said the water has gotten into her house and basement. Walters said she has called officials and been bounced back and forth from one person to another.

Walters said after the land was graded, it had nowhere to go but into residents' yards. Officials told her that they could not put a culvert in because it would block the natural flow of water. Walters said she has 10 inches of water in their basement.

"That natural flow is going into my house," she said.

Walters explained that the water also sometimes covers the road, making it impassable for cars and school buses.

"We have to do it and we have to do it ourselves," resident Chuck Williams said. "We've all got the problem. We've all got to stick together."

Trustees attended the meeting as well as Rep. Clyde Evans and Harriet Scragg, district representative for Ohio Sen. John Carey.

The residents said that they have been trying to get this problem fixed for more than a year and are growing angry that it has not been addressed. Some feel that litigation is the only avenue to solve the problem.

They decided that they are waiting to determine their course of action until after a meeting with the county commissioners.