Problematic potholes popping up after Harvey

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - As if Harvey hasn't been enough of a headache, now once-flooded roads are turning into severely bumpy ones and they're doing a number on area cars and wallets.

Some say potholes are becoming all too popular and they're putting a hurting on Houstonians. They range from colossal craters causing cars and drivers damage, to bumpy raggedy roads. After Harvey dumped billions of gallons of water on our streets, problematic potholes are popping up across the city.

"Yeah the steering wheel was shaking. I could barely drive my car," explains Erin Rodgers.  After running into a rough patch of road, Rodgers was reminded certain things are supposed to have holes but roads are not one of them.

"All of a sudden I hit something so hard I had to look back and make sure I hadn't run over something or somebody and I didn't see anything at the time but I could barely drive my car," Rodgers said.

Rodgers' Nissan Altima may be bigger, but it was no match for the pothole there on Elgin at Milam.  

"It broke my strut. The other one was leaking. It ended up costing me $1,000 to repair. I wasn't prepared for that. The guy at the car shop was like 'how did you even drive this here?' It was that bad," explains Rodgers.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says flooding from Harvey has caused roadway erosion in some areas.  

"We're asking for federal dollars to address our road maintenance and federal upkeep," says the mayor, who is reminding us if we call public works to report a pothole the problem will be fixed in 24 hours.

"Now in some cases there will be more serious repairs.  The panel replacements and some streets that were submerged, it's going to require considerably more. That is a part of what we are asking from the feds, the dollars to flow down so we can make those more serious repairs," Mayor Turner said.

As for Rodgers, after her pocketbook took a beating because of a pothole, she plans to report every one she sees now to save someone else from the same rough road she recently traveled.

"I'm going to go call right now," she smiles.  

Call 311, the Houston Helpline to report a pothole.