Jose Gonzales was getting ready for work around 4:30 this morning when he heard what sounded like a small leak. Gonzales, who lives in a condominium at The Maples on the west side of Tooele behind Wal-Mart, thought perhaps the noise was just water running outside from last night's heavy rains.

However, as he made his way down to the basement to investigate, his feet met with soggy carpet. He rounded the corner into a bedroom where his two young sons were sleeping and noticed the south-facing window well was full of water. Gonzales grabbed the boys and rushed out of the room just as the window burst and water spilled in.

Gonzales yelled at his daughter, who had been sleeping in a room across the hall, to run upstairs as fast as she could. The torrent of water caused the door to slam behind him as he took his family upstairs, and a few moments later the pressure building up on the other side of the door caused it to break in half. Water kept flooding into Gonzales' basement until nearly four feet of it had submerged much of the family's belongings.

"I just finished this basement six months ago," Gonzales said. "Everything was new. Now we've lost it all."

Gonzales and several of his neighbors in The Maples' southernmost building were hit hard by rainwater that coursed off the adjacent All-Star Lanes parking lot and into their basements last night. And although last night's rainfall was exceptional -- with as much as 2 inches falling in parts of the Tooele Valley, according to the National Weather Service -- many of the residents say it's not the first time they've faced flooding problems.

Three years ago, the complex's developer sued the bowling alley -- then operating under the name Buddy's -- because of flooding problems allegedly resulting from too few drains and a drastic difference in property levels.

The parking lot of All-Star Lanes sits nearly three feet above the condo owners' backyard property lines. A gentle slope in the parking lot sends storm drainage to the north end of the parking lot where one of only two storm drains is located. Gonzales said the drain wasn't able to handle the amount of water that was collecting around it, and water started to flow over the curb and run down the embankment and under neighbor's fences.

Jose and his wife, Ofelia, who live very close to that storm drain, suffered more damage than many of their neighbors, but residents in apartments No. 7 to No. 12 said they all ended up with water in their basements.

Russ Shostak, who lives with his wife Jackie in apartment No. 11, said he looked out his back door while preparing for work and noticed water running right into his window well. As he made his way downstairs, his dual-paned window also burst, sending six to eight inches of water into a largely unfinished basement.

The Shostaks said they're glad that a majority of their belongings were stored in large plastic containers, but haven't had an opportunity to really survey the damage.

The Shostaks, whose basement was also flooded three years ago, have contacted a lawyer and plan to make sure that homeowners aren't required to pay for the damage themselves.

"This whole project has been a farce to begin with," Jackie said. "We're all mad."

The issue of elevated commercial properties causing flooding in residential areas has also come to the fore in recent months with homeowners to the west of the newly built Stansbury Village Shopping center complaining of flooding resulting from inadequate drainage.

"I'm destroyed," Gonzales said. "I have two jobs and I work seven days a week. Hopefully somebody is going to pay for this."

Gonzales said he isn't sure if his insurance company will pay for the damage, considering flood insurance is an extra policy that they did not have added to their homeowner's policy.

"I don't want to pay for this," Jose said. "It's too much."

jamieb@tooeletranscript.com