When Mary Gentry was looking for houses 25 years ago, she avoided Old Jefferson because of the flood risk.
Gentry, a retired geologist, settled down in the Somersby subdivision, where wetlands sat behind her house, and she was left undisturbed by flooding for the first few years. After a subdivision was built behind hers in 2003, rainstorms turned her yard into a lake, she said, with damage to her sunroom and master bedroom.
The flooding prompted her to spend $15,000 on a drainage system to move some of the water off her property, which she said helps mitigate rainwater, but has a limited capacity…