Flooded? Ask An Engineer

This week’s Woodstock City Council meeting was consumed with the engineering report of Baxter & Woodman about the August 6-7 “Flood Event” and residents’ statements and requests that the City actually DO something.

I marveled at the dull, dreary, dry, boring comments. I mean, the two men from Baxter & Woodman are very nice men. Well-dressed. Well-spoken. Well-prepared. And what we heard was a standard, boiler-plate report tailored to sell the City on millions of dollars of needed upgrading. I silently debated the wisdom of leaning back and letting out a loud S-N-O-R-E.

Then the residents got their turn. I didn’t count the number who spoke but, when they meeting started, I thought, “WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE?” Is the “flood event” old news already? Have the residents given up already? Have they bought the City’s line that it wasn’t their fault?

The engineering report, online at www.woodstockil.gov, informs us that the City knows about 345 properties that were flooded or had sewer back-ups, and that’s only 4.5% of the City’s 7,600 properties. I’m not going to re-hash the report here. Go and read it for yourself. I dare you…

However, I can name six addresses within two blocks of my house that had water damage. Would you count a house with four feet of water in the basement? How about two houses with four feet of water in the basements?

The Woodstock Advocate will begin canvassing neighborhoods for additional damage. Shall I venture a guess about the total number of houses that were damaged during the flood “event”? Oh, how I grew to hate that word that evening! It’s such a dry, unemotional word that doesn’t begin to approach what people in Woodstock are feeling about the flooding.

OK, how many houses, in total, were damaged? When a complete list is ready, I’m guessing that 1,000 properties will be on it.

Did you have damage? Call Public Works at (815) 338-6118 and schedule time (no charge) for the engineer hired on a temporary basis by the City to come to your property and discuss what you can do about your flooding problem. While he is there, ask him what caused YOUR problem? Ask the hard questions. WHY did sewage back up in your basement? And why ISN’T it the City’s problem? You might want to tape-record his visit.

Afraid that the City might jump on you, if it finds out that you have piping that illegally drains into the sanitary sewer or stormwater drain system? Mayor Sager stated emphatically that the City of Woodstock will not go after you.

Trying to get rid of flooding damaged furniture, carpet, drywall, etc.? Call Public Works and put your address on the list for a pick-up. The City is providing additional pick-ups. Nice, but where is the publicity about this?

Mayor Sager said, again emphatically, that NO ONE can understand the magnitude of a resident’s loss during the August flooding. Well, I’m sorry, but many CAN understand the magnitude of it. And maybe more of us could, if the City compiled and released figures of estimates of the TOTAL loss by Woodstock residents.

Mayor Sager announced that a mailing will go out to all City residents regarding the availability of the engineer temporarily assigned to Public Works. Don’t wait for the letter. Call now. Check this out on the City’s website. Ah-hah!!! You’ll see on the City’s website that the mailing will go (only) to the known addresses of flooding problems. Big difference!

Residents at the meeting complained about years of flooding problems. While this August storm was a whopper, I remember one in 1999-2000 that caused big water problems in town. I had three pumps running in the basement on Lawrence Avenue and just barely kept the water out of the freezer’s motor.

Two residents spoke about global warming and the forecasts of more frequent, severe storms. This isn’t just hot air. The so-called 100-year storms will probably be showing up every 5-10 years. But who really knows.

Do you know of addresses of flooded properties that are not on the City’s report? Just list them on this website, and I’ll be sure the City knows about them.