There 's flooding, and then there 's flooding.

The amount of water that has inundated Sharon Zintz 's back yard is not on the scale -- or anywhere near the scale -- of that seen in places such as Avoca or Jefferson in recent weeks, but she doesn 't blame it on an act of God.

More like an act of the Soo Line Railroad, Zintz said.

For all but five of her 67 years, Zintz has lived in the 1600 block of Packers Avenue on Madison 's North Side. And for all but the last couple years, Zintz 's back yard has been relatively dry.

That changed when water from debris-strewn ditches along the Soo Line tracks at the rear of her property began flooding her yard, she said.

"I 've lived here all my life, " she said. "We never, even when it rained, had a problem like that. ... It just gushes in our gates. It 's like a river coming in. "

The main problem, as Zintz and her son, Robert, see it, is that the Soo Line, which is responsible for upkeep on the tracks, has not kept the ditches on either side or the culvert running under it free of brush and other debris.

That leaves no place for rainwater to go but into their back yard and those of their neighbors.

Zintz said she first contacted the city about getting the Soo to clean up its ditches a little more than a year ago.

During a visit last week, SOS found the ditches chock full of dead branches that Robert Zintz said are the result of the railroad 's tree and brush cutting. There were also half-decomposed railroad ties, pieces of what looked like asphalt pavement, railroad spikes and metal brackets that looked as if they were used to hold the tracks to the ties.

"It needs work. It sure does, " said Madison Housing Inspection Supervisor Tom Adamowicz.

A review of the city 's inspection file on the property shows inspectors have been issuing orders since last summer to clean up dead trees, old railroad ties, rubble, yard waste and brush. But so far, only the dead trees and some brush were removed.

"Debris remains along rail, " notes an entry from May 20, as do "old ties, cut brush, tires, asphalt, rubble and loose debris. " It also says the culvert is about 75 percent plugged.

On Thursday, the city filed suit against the company after it missed deadlines for removing the debris. It faces fines of up to $1,000 a day for each of four counts.

After inquiries from SOS and action by the city, railroad workers last week were cleaning out the ditches, according to Sharon Zintz.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the company that owns the Soo Line, Canadian Pacific Railway, blames illegal dumping for much of the problem.

"A very large percentage of it is litter, not railroad housekeeping, " said Jeff Johnson, a Canadian Pacific spokesman. He estimated that about 75 percent of the debris clogging the ditches and culvert has been tossed there by someone else, although he didn 't blame the immediate neighborhood.

Adamowicz said residents have contributed to the problem by throwing yard waste and other junk into the ditches, spurring the city to send out a letter last year reminding them not to do that and to report people who do.

Robert and Sharon Zintz admit that people throw yard waste and other junk into the ditches, but Robert said he 's cleaned their stuff out and, in any case, it 's not yard waste or other garbage that 's clogging the ditches -- it 's years of neglect by the Soo along a set of old tracks. He pointed to pieces of asphalt he claimed were left there after the railroad repaired the at-grade crossing at Schlimgen Avenue. Sharon noted that when the railroad cuts down brush or dead trees along the tracks, it just leaves them there.

Drivers need not hold their breath quite so assiduously as they climb the hill up Melvin Court on Madison's East Side.

Resident Ruth Meister said the city moved a no-parking sign a couple weeks ago in an effort to lessen the chance of getting hit by a vehicle made invisible by the steep slope of the incline.

Meister told SOS last winter that vehicles parked at the top of the hill, near Ridgeway Avenue, force traffic to the middle of the street and into the path of any unseen vehicle coming from the other direction.

But now, the "no parking here to corner" sign on the north side of the street has been moved to make parking on the crest of the hill illegal. It was already illegal on the south side.

Send us an SOS! Is something wrong in your neighborhood, your city or Wisconsin? Send an SOS: crickert@madison.com, 608-252-6198, or P.O. Box 8058, Madison, WI 53708.