Water, water – everywhere…

Was there a little water in Woodstock today? No. There was a LOT of water!!!

Five-to-seven inches of rain fell in Woodstock in a relatively short period of time, perhaps six hours. And what did this mean? Flooded basements, backed up sewers – like, INSIDE the house. Flooded streets. And lots of damage!

Several families attended this evening’s City Council meeting. Many, many more would have been there, but they were probably pumping out basements and yards, dealing with ruined household furnishings, cars that had been submerged, displaced family members, electricity and gas shut off for safety, spoiled food and hastily arranged substitute lodging.

And lost income, due to time taken off from work at short notice.

Some families have been dealing with flooding in Woodstock for years and are very frustrated with years of empty promises, according to comments made to the City Council this evening.

Sewer back-ups and flooding for years were problems presented by residents on the odd side of the street in the 400 block of West Judd Street and the even side of the street in the 400 block of West Jackson Street. Similar problems were presented by residents on East Todd and Jewett Streets.

Did you see “Lake Woodstock” today, a/k/a Raintree Park. Many may not know that it is a planned retention “pond”; i.e., it collects run-off. The only problem is that it filled today, and high water found a low spot toward the west end of the berm near Lake Street, on the east side of the railroad tracks, and water poured through the low spot into back yards of houses on East Calhoun Street.

The “low spot” was not easily visible to the untrained eye of joggers and park users before the pond filled. Perhaps it wasn’t even visible to residents and property owners on the side of the berm away from Raintree Park. But it was certainly visible early this morning, when the retention pond was full. While water was still a foot from the top of most of the berm, it found the low spot and overflowed through the dip. How did it ever happen that the berm (or dam) was constructed with a low spot, rather than making the top level throughout?

Very soon the City’s website at www.woodstockil.gov will contain a statement by the City about today’s disaster. Be sure to read it.

Were you affected by flooding? Have you had ongoing and unresolved problems of flooding over the years? Let’s hear about them.