Heavy rains, flooding stresses Flossmoor's century-old infrastructure
FLOSSMOOR, Ill. (CBS) – Flossmoor is no stranger to heavy rain, especially this summer, but in a town where the infrastructure is more than 100 years old, local leaders are working to prevent a tough situation from becoming worse.
Crews were out clearing basements on Wednesday when CBS 2's Marissa Perlman was there.
Members of the Flossmoor Village Board watched the rain fall in the downtown area on Wednesday. As the clouds rolled in, so did the problems.
One family showed CBS 2 their flooded backyard off Brassie Avenue, something they've dealt with multiple times already this summer. And the banks were high at Butterfield Creek where water ran right over the bridge in the neighborhood but stopped short of nearby homes.
"For the past 30 years, that's all we've been doing is working on infrastructure and flooding issues," said Village Trustee Jim Mitros.
Mitros was hoping for sunnier days ahead. In a century-old town, he said older infrastructure can create problems, and the community was always looking for new ways to store water.
"The infrastructure was never built to take the capacity that we have now and the rain we have now," said Mitros.
The constant rainfall has those in Flossmoor constantly needing to solve problems and help residents from keeping water away from their homes.
"The sewers were sized for old rainfall events," said John Brunke, Flossmoor's public works director. "Nowadays, we're getting much worse rainfall than we used to, much more intense, more often it seems like, and the amounts are higher."
There was seemingly not a dry surface in town on Wednesday. The village recently paved streets with permeable pavers so water can go underground.
The village is also working on a project to divert water into Butterfield Creek.