Mayor Announces Plans to Fix Flooding

The city approved a contract today with an engingeering company to fix Evansvilles flooding problems. Theyll oversee a nearly $55 million project that should ease flooding on Evansvilles southeast side. The project focuses on four areas recommended as the most crtical by the storm water task force. It includes the southeast Brookside area, the Cass Avenue area, Eastview Terrace, and the Jeanette and Cass addition. But the project does not focus on some areas that also suffer from flooding and thats not sitting well with some residents in those areas. This summer has been so dry there hasnt even been enough rain to water the grass, much less cause flooding. That wasnt the case less than a year ago on Evansvilles southeastside including the home of Richard Wilson on Colony Drive. Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel is trying to stop the flooding with recommendations from the storm water task force. "They selected the projects that would have the most impact and be most cost effective." Theyre putting in trunk lines to get the water out of areas that flood. The plans do not include Colony Drive. "They werent part of the recommendations by the task force and we just recently finsihed a project on Colony." The solution on Colony Drive is a ditch in Wilsons front yard. It takes water from Colony Drive and sends it to the lakes at the state hospital. Those lakes are a concern for Wilson. He says the ditch will be fine until the lakes start to fill. "We have a check valve so the water would stop and start building up in the street," says Wilson. So far the ditch has worked, but there hasnt been rain like last year. The city is supposed to make the lakes larger. "Orginially it was supposed to be April, then June, the last I heard was by end of the year." Wilson hopes if the rains came like before the ditch and the lakes can hold it. A call to the city engineer about the work on the lakes was not returned. Weinzapfel says the preliminary plans for the trunk lines in the four other parts of the city should be complete in about 9 months.