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Wheeling city officials' discussion of solving the flooding problems in the Elm Grove neighborhood couldn't have come soon enough. Anytime there's a hard rain, there's a risk of waters coming onto the roadways -- and sometimes coming into neighborhood businesses.
Elm Terrace businesses got another dose of that this past June, when a short and strong storm put several inches of water into several shops in Elm Terrace. One business owner said her husband had to wade through waist-deep water in order to unclog a drain to allow the water to recede.
That shopping plaza is the biggest trouble area in the neighborhood, situated in a natural bowl that sees runoff to a point where the current inlet in the plaza can't handle the volume.
Engineer A.J. Smith of Verdantas, the engineering and consulting firm the city uses, discussed both short-term and long-term solutions for the problem. Short-term answers include creating a larger inlet capable of handling heavy stormwater flows. Diverting excess runoff from the nearby Sledd parking lot would also would help control the volume of water entering the plaza area. A new larger stormwater inlet area also was proposed.
Long-term answers include installation of multiple inlets in the parking lot, creation of underground stormwater retention and possibly a pump station to get stormwater to the creek more quickly. Other ideas would focus on diverting upstream storm flows to other lines to reduce drainage in the plaza.
City Manager Robert Herron said legislation to authorize engineering for the project will likely come before council in the coming weeks. That's good news, and especially good news for the businesses in Elm Terrace. They shouldn't worry about significant water damage to their properties every time there's a strong storm. The longer that remains a problem, the more likely businesses will find other sites in which to reside -- and the less likely new businesses would fill in the empty spaces.
So, while the city deserves kudos for working toward a solution in Elm Grove, it shouldn't stop there. We all saw just this week there are plenty of trouble areas when hard rains come through the Friendly City. On Thursday, water rolled down 29th Street in Wheeling from that morning's storms.
The city needs to take a comprehensive look at its stormwater systems, find the problem areas and come up with short-term and long-term plans to solve them, just like they're doing in Elm Grove.
In the meantime, the city can take some small measures right away alleviate flooding. Crews can make sure culverts are clear and sewer drains are unobstructed throughout the city. Clogs can appear quickly if, say, too many grass clippings from a neighborhood's yard work end up in a sewer drain.
Routinely cleaning out culverts and sewer drains may be a smaller job, but if they're left undone, they can become one big problem.
Everyone has been able to see the issues neighborhood flooding presents. It can hurt businesses and residents alike. It's good to see Wheeling officials starting to take care of Elm Grove. That work needs to expand to the rest of the city.