Nebraska city overflowing with storm water
Posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) -- The forecast shows no rain until a 30 percent chance Tuesday, which gives Grand Island -- and other ground-soaked Nebraska cities -- some time to dry out.
In Grand Island, for example, there's no place for the storm water to go: The ditches and detention cells are full. Some yards have turned into small ponds. The sewer system is overmatched by the runoff.
The 2.44 inches of rain recorded in the 24 hours that ended at 7 p.m. Sunday fell on ground saturated by previous storms.
Similar high rain totals abound in the eastern half of Nebraska: 1.57 inches at Albion, 1.29 inches at Columbus. The Norfolk airport reported 3 inches, the York airport 1.51 inches, Omaha's Eppley Airfield 1.61 inches.
The National Weather Service has posted flood watches, warnings and advisories almost constantly over the past week in much of eastern Nebraska.
Mike Lingeman of Grand Island learned the hard way that three sump pumps couldn't keep water off the floor of his finished basement, costing him his furniture, furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and freezer.
In part, he blamed the water buildup on a ditch along a nearby farm field. The ditch needed to be dug out, he said, but the city hadn't done the work yet.
Storm water can't get to the culverts, so it backs up into yards and then into nearby basements.
At a nearby church, volunteers were filling sandbags and delivering them to homes in need of protection. That included nearly every house in Lingeman's neighborhood.
"This is the fourth time I've sandbagged my house," he said. "This needs to be addressed."
City public works director Steve Riehle knew Lingeman's pain, because there was water in Riehle's basement, too.
Riehle and Mayor Margaret Hornady spent Sunday listening to residents' problems and complaints.
Because of the overtaxed sewer system, homeowners have been asked not to pump water from their flooded basements into the sewers. Residents also were asked to limit water use -- dishes, showers, laundry -- to avoid more discharge into the city drainage system.
In Grand Island, for example, there's no place for the storm water to go: The ditches and detention cells are full. Some yards have turned into small ponds. The sewer system is overmatched by the runoff.
The 2.44 inches of rain recorded in the 24 hours that ended at 7 p.m. Sunday fell on ground saturated by previous storms.
Similar high rain totals abound in the eastern half of Nebraska: 1.57 inches at Albion, 1.29 inches at Columbus. The Norfolk airport reported 3 inches, the York airport 1.51 inches, Omaha's Eppley Airfield 1.61 inches.
The National Weather Service has posted flood watches, warnings and advisories almost constantly over the past week in much of eastern Nebraska.
Mike Lingeman of Grand Island learned the hard way that three sump pumps couldn't keep water off the floor of his finished basement, costing him his furniture, furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and freezer.
In part, he blamed the water buildup on a ditch along a nearby farm field. The ditch needed to be dug out, he said, but the city hadn't done the work yet.
Storm water can't get to the culverts, so it backs up into yards and then into nearby basements.
At a nearby church, volunteers were filling sandbags and delivering them to homes in need of protection. That included nearly every house in Lingeman's neighborhood.
"This is the fourth time I've sandbagged my house," he said. "This needs to be addressed."
City public works director Steve Riehle knew Lingeman's pain, because there was water in Riehle's basement, too.
Riehle and Mayor Margaret Hornady spent Sunday listening to residents' problems and complaints.
Because of the overtaxed sewer system, homeowners have been asked not to pump water from their flooded basements into the sewers. Residents also were asked to limit water use -- dishes, showers, laundry -- to avoid more discharge into the city drainage system.
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