When the next storm season comes, they will have to move their cars to places of higher elevation, as they always do. They will place sandbags against their garage doors. And they will not invest in landscaping in their front yards.

"I have river rocks in my front yard and a lawn that is easily replaced," Lea Shodiss said. "Why bother if they are going to be swept away? It's a waste of money."

During the past 20 years, the flooding problem at Elm Court has brought the members of the neighborhood together. They have studied the problem together (four engineers live on the block). They have helped each other clean yards after floods. They have gone to council meetings almost every year to request that the city improve the storm drain.

Their latest attempt was on March 1, after the rains had flooded most residents' lawns the previous week. Four men from this diverse Cupertino neighborhood—one from Ireland, one from China, an African American and a third-generation Russian-American—went to the council to demand the city take the flooding seriously. Their complaints were heard, once again, but still there's no change.

"The flooding happens three or four times a year. It is unacceptable for a city like Cupertino to ignore it," said Shodiss, 40, whose house at the end of Elm Court suffers most because of its lower elevation.

Another resident, James Machale, said, "You have a city to provide basic services. What service can be

more basic than solving flooding problems?"

According to the city, Elm Court's flooding problems are not related to its own storm drain but are instead related to the one on McClellan Road. "The 27-inch line on McClellan Road reaches capacity and it causes other lines to back up," said City Manager Knapp.

During heavy rainfall, excess storm water runs from McClellan Road to Bubb Road and inundates Elm Court and neighboring Shannon Court. Last fall, the city installed another storm-drain system in Elm Court, but residents said the additional line didn't solve the problem.

According to residents, water built up to 2 feet during the storm in late February and didn't dissipate for 45 minutes. In fact, the overflow was so powerful that a manhole near the intersection of Elm Court and Bubb Road was blown off and Elm Court resident Tom Lowe directed traffic in the rain for an hour.

"Sometimes I think unless somebody dies or sues the city, the city will not do anything," said Shing-Shwang Yao, who has lived on Elm Court for four years.

Public Works Director Ralph Qualls said that there is nothing the city can do except replace the storm drain on McClellan Road, which will cost up to $2 million. Because the city faces a $3 million budget shortfall, the project will not happen anytime soon. But City Manager Knapp assured Elm Court residents that replacing the McClellan line is the top-priority item on the list of large-scale public works improvements.

Elm Court residents said they hope they won't have to wait that long.