A damaged piece of stormwater infrastructure on private property has created a public hazard when large volumes of rain accumulate over a short time.

That scenario has played out over the last week, with stormwater state and city officials said is restricted by a collapsed corrugated pipe culvert under the parking lot of the strip mall at 3539 Central Ave. backing up onto the state right of way. The Hot Springs Fire Department rescued a motorist whose vehicle stalled out in the several feet of water Monday morning's downpour left in the 3500 block of Central Avenue.

The cause of the flooding is clear, but who's responsible for fixing it isn't as apparent. The state and city said the pipe is the strip mall owner's responsibility. The owner said the city damaged the pipe, making it responsible. Tai Pham, who, according to property records, bought in 2012 what was then a vacant lot, said Wednesday that the city damaged the pipe while trying to locate the adjacent 12-inch gravity sewer main on Central Avenue in 2013.

The sewer main couldn't be located, so the property's service sewer line was connected to the 6-inch gravity line on Mangum Street. According to the public GIS map, an 8-inch extension on the north side of the property connects its service line to the Mangum Street line.

"They are the ones who messed up the pipe in 2013," said Pham, who also owns Mary's Nails & Spa inside the strip mall. "They are the ones who have to fix it. If the city doesn't fix the problem, Central Avenue will keep flooding. Every time it floods it blocks the road, and the whole area has no business at all."

Pham said excavation the city did while trying to locate the sewer main damaged the adjacent storm pipe, explaining that the excavated area began to settle about a month after he paved the parking lot. A contractor cut out the settled area and replaced it with new asphalt when the second phase of the strip mall was built several years later, he said, but the settling continued and ultimately collapsed part of the parking lot.

Hot Springs Public Works Director Denny McPhate said Wednesday that the city's exploration for the sewer main didn't damage the storm pipe.

"We verified that we weren't anywhere near that area," he said. "(The sewer main) is out close to the street. (The storm pipe) is over close to the building."

McPhate said the property's original developer put 12 to 14 feet of fill material over the plastic storm pipe.

"The pipe is not rated for that kind of weighted pressure on top of it," he said. "Over the last 20 years, it's just finally given up, collapsed."

McPhate said the pressure has squeezed the pipe, which carries stormwater collected by grate inlets on either side of Central Avenue, to about 10% of its original width, causing stormwater to back up south of Family Fun Park.

"If we get a trickle or a light rain, it can move out of there," he said. "At that distance, it can store quite a bit of water as it slowly releases, but when you get a really heavy one it can't get out of it fast enough, hence the flooding."

The Arkansas Department of Transportation, which is responsible for the state highway, said the storm pipe's location on private property prevents the state from spending money on it.

"ArDOT cannot expend money off of our right of way," Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Randy Ort said in an email Tuesday. "It's a tough situation. The culvert is under private property. That makes it difficult for the city and ArDOT."

McPhate said the city hasn't accepted the storm pipe for maintenance. According to the city's public works code, adoption of a resolution by the Hot Springs Board of Directors is a prerequisite for acceptance of a private drainage system.

The property owner would then have to grant the city a maintenance easement. Funds to construct, improve and maintain accepted drainage systems on private property have to be appropriated by the board, according to the code.

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