Wheeling Neighborhoods Recover From Another Bout of Flooding
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WHEELING - A number of Wheeling residents were still drying out Monday after weekend downpours left streets and basements flooded all over the city.
Heavy storms Friday night, which occurred over a short amount of time, dumped inches of rain in areas throughout the Ohio Valley. Although certain wards in Wheeling have been plagued by flooding issues during heavy rain events in recent years, this weekend's rains caused problems throughout the city as flooding was reported in neighborhoods from every ward. Some residents from Wheeling Island to Elm Grove reported basement flooding for the first time in several years following Friday's storms.
On Monday, city leaders said crews were making extra sanitation runs in order to pick up items from basement flooding, from waterlogged carpets to other flood-damaged materials.
Members of Wheeling City Council took to social media on Friday and Saturday urging affected residents to call the city's Water Pollution Control office at 304-234-3874 to report any flooding in their homes and neighborhoods.
Ward 4 Councilman Jerry Skalvounakis noted that it was important that officials at Wheeling Water Pollution Control be made aware of the properties that are prone to experience flooding issues. The councilman explained that all reports of this data are being collected, and this information will help when designs are being drawn on future phases of sewer improvement projects that will be part of the city's long-term, multimillion-dollar water pollution control plant.
Neighborhoods in Wards 4 and 5 have been particularly hard hit with flooding issues in recent years. Heavy rains not only causes streams or "runs" in these neighborhoods to overflow their banks, but overburdened sewer systems that have had combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, closed off in the wake of Environmental Protection Agency mandates often send storm water and raw sewage back flowing into residents' basements, officials have said.
This weekend, flooding was reported in several areas in Wards 4 and 5, including Echo Lane, Woodlawn Court, Fable Street, Alfred Street, as well as portions of Oakmont Road and Atlas Road, where residents reported new sinkholes forming.
Other areas of Wheeling were also affected by basement and street flooding, at least until storm sewer drains were able to catch up to the overwhelmed system after Friday's heavy rains.
Residents of Sycamore Avenue, Fernwood Avenue, Patterson Street, Columbia Avenue and other areas of Elm Grove reported street flooding, along with the area of the Elm Terrace Shopping Center. Low-lying areas of the downtown and Wheeling Island, and Warwood were also hit, as were areas around 33rd and 35th Streets in South Wheeling.
A final reading of a long-awaited project -- the Bedillion Lane sewer system improvement project -- was on today's Wheeling City Council agenda and was expected to receive approval. The contract with James White Construction of Weirton is for more than $2.1 million and will bring sanitary and storm sewer separation, as well as other sewer system improvements to a number of areas around the Edgewood neighborhood.
According to Ward 5 Councilman Ty Thorngate, construction of the Bedillion Lane sewer system improvement project should begin in October or November and wrap up in May 2021.
This project is part of Phase III in the city's six-phase, 20-year sewer system improvement plan that is expected to cost a total of about $280 million, with many more projects expected to be completed across the city in years to come.