Madison Park

I just wondering if anyone else had issues with flooding (or near flooding) during the storm on August 16.  My house backs up to a drainage creek and it ended up becoming about 3x wider than it usually is...it was within feet of my crawl space.  Very scary!  Anyone else have a problem with is?  Or maybe has dealt with it in the past?

I've already reported it to Storm Water. 

Not sure if you know this or not...but eEast of the bridge between Montford and Wedgewood Drive is County Storm Water.   We discovered this a few years ago working on complaints.  

In the past the only options for residents in that area is to buy federal flood insurance.

There is an interactive map on our web site that shows which areas are in a flood plain which would qualify you for purchasing the flood insurance.

It is always a good thing to report these conditions so that the creek/stream can be checked for any blockages. 

We also got quite a scare from the rain yesterday.  The paper reported 4.5 inches at Collinswood Elementary.

We arrived home at 2:30 pm to a flooded street and a full creek.  By 3 the water had risen above the banks of the creek, across the 75 feet of my backyard, and was within about 6 inches of my patio.  Seeing the water come that fast toward my house was pretty frightening.  The amount of water in the road was growing just as fast and our street was unpassable.  Thankfully the rain slowed and the water receded, but I'm now left with a lot of questions. 

How often does this happen?  If the rain had continued for another 30 minutes, I am sure we would have had some significant damage.

What can I do to bring my concerns to the people who can fix this problem?  I live on Wedgewood Dr., just downstream of where Little Hope Creek changes from city controlled to county.

We just bought the house a few weeks ago and have loved the neighborhood so far, yesterday was a little wake-up call that we need to be aware of what can happen if enough rains falls in our area in a short period of time.

This is a little history on Wedgewood Drive and the flooding regarding Leslie Michaels a resident of Wedgewood Drive.  Note the date 8/2006....almost 3 years to the day.  Unfortunately the response from County has always been pretty much the same.  This info has been on our web site since the letter was received.  There are other flooding related letters under flooding on our local pages.

Flooding On Wedgewood Drive

Response from Storm Water Services

Engineering & Property Management, Storm Water Services - Staff report: August 22, 2006
Flooding along Wedgewood Drive August 15, 2006

Councilmember Dulin forwarded an inquiry from Marty Doss and Leslie Michaels concerning flooding in their neighborhood on August 15, 2006. This report provides a brief review of the flooding event, its causes, and the status of a drainage infrastructure project currently underway in the neighborhood.

The project manager for the drainage project (Doug Lozner) spoke with Ms. Michaels Thursday morning to discuss the storm event from Tuesday night. She reported that her garage and crawl space flooded, but she did not experience flooding inside her home. This is consistent with flooding conditions generally observed along Wedgewood Drive.

• The rainfall in the Wedgewood area Tuesday night was 5.28 inches in 4 ½ hours. Other smaller, but significant, rainfall events in the area (3.15 inches in 2 hours 6/7/03 and 2.32 inches in 1 hour 6/7/05) also led to similar flooding.
• Ms. Michael’s property and adjacent properties along Wedgewood Drive are in the regulated floodplain and are expected to flood during major rainfall events. These floodplains were mapped over 30 years ago and are subject to floodplain regulations adopted by the City Council in the 1970’s. These properties also qualify for flood insurance through the FEMA Flood Insurance Program.
• The City’s current drainage project is intended to address local runoff – that is, runoff from the immediate neighborhood into the creek. It will not reduce flooding in the designated floodplain.
• Neither the City nor the County includes post-storm cleanup as part of its activities unless the debris is preventing the system from functioning properly. Such cleanup is the responsibility of individual property owners. If the flooding created blockage within the channel or a drainage pipe system, then the City and/or County would address the blockage issue(s). Doug referred Ms. Michaels to Robert Billings of County Storm Water Services to answer additional questions she had that related to the County’s program.
• During these large rain events, Ms. Michaels is not expected to experience any significant benefit from the upstream and side yard drainage improvements being made by the City. As noted above, they serve to carry local runoff to the creek. The large rain events are not contained within the creek banks, and therefore flooding of the creek will back into and fill the new pipe because the pipe is lower than the creek bank and associated water elevations. When this condition occurs, a pipe of any size would be ineffective in reducing flooding to her home.
• Also, Ms. Michaels should not see any negative impacts from the improvements upstream. These upstream improvements are being constructed to primarily reduce flooding conditions for those properties upstream along Bradbury Drive and Montford Drive. Even though only a part of the system has been constructed, the adjacent residents stated to Doug that they feel that the improvements currently in place appeared to help lessen the severity of flooding that they experienced.

Doug Lozner will continue to be involved as the City’s drainage infrastructure project is completed. He may be reached at 704-432-0964. As noted above, County Storm Water Services will provide Ms. Michaels information related to flood insurance and other Floodway programs