- Last month, the City of East Lansing invited neighbors to speak about their experiences with recent flooding in a survey.
- Tuesday, the survey's findings were presented to the City Council, and laid out options for what the city can do to improve for the future.
- Video shows the survey's findings, as well as thoughts from the city.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
After recent flooding here in my neighborhood, the city has been working to pinpoint key areas where future flooding could occur to try and combat it in the future.
"The first wave of the July 9 and 10 event was on the order of a 1000-year storm," Ernie West, the Michigan Water Group Manager of HDR, said.
Rare storm events becoming more and more common in East Lansing now making flood prevention a priority for the city. Tuesday, the East Lansing City Council discussed the findings of a review of this summer's storms—with a historic 6.91" of rainfall in just three hours during the July storm.
"There's no storms even close to 6.19" of rainfall in three hours," West said.
According to the report, the Whitehills, Bailey, and Glencairn Neighborhoods were particularly impactful for residents, who reported surface flooding, seepage into basements, and flooding of private yards and driveways.
It comes at a time when the city hopes to implement a Wet Weather Resiliency Plan to better prepare for these events in the future.
"We're trying to gather all that information and get a better understanding of how our system is working, how it's impacting residents, and look at some of the steps that we can take so we can mitigate," City Manager Robert Belleman said.
The council was also presented with suggestions for steps the city could take to help, such as working with homeowners on education and prevention, and mapping private drainage systems. But the ultimate need is an infrastructure update.
"The ultimate goal is to figure out what can we put in the ground, how can we manage this water from a public infrastructure standpoint," Environmental Sustainability and Resiliency Manager Cliff Walls said.
No action was taken regarding those changes at Tuesday's meeting, but we'll continue to monitor this process as it develops in the neighborhood.
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