Residents Address Flooding Issues

About 50 residents of the Brainerd/East Brainerd area met with city officials last night in a town hall meeting at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church to ask for help to  prevent future flooding.

Maurice Thetford said he has lived on East Brainerd road for 35 years and been through at least seven floods. After the most recent flooding in September, he said, “For the first time, I saw raw sewage. That’s dangerous. All this water’s got to be taken care of or we’re going to have a major problem in the city.”

“It’s been getting progressively worse for the last eight months,” said Dr. Anuj Chandra, a homeowner and business owner in the area. “A lot of us still have significant water in our backyards.”

Some residents noted that flooding has increased as development in recent years has replaced open ground with paved surfaces, resulting in more stormwater runoff to South Chickamauga Creek. Others described how flood control levees and pumping stations installed after major flooding in 1973 now keep some areas dry but actually contribute to problems in other areas by simply shifting flood waters. Some complained that repeated calls to the city’s 311 number about clogged storm drains yielded no response from the city.

City Council member Dr. Carol Berz told the audience that their concerns are “some of the exact same things we have been talking about” in City Council. She said the city has been discussing creating retention ponds in the area that should help reduce some of the flooding.

City Engineer Bill Payne and Public Works Administrator Steve Leach discussed a number of factors contributing to the flooding, including the need for a regional solution involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because much of the flood waters coming through South Chickamauga Creek originate in north Georgia.

In response to one irritated resident who then insisted, “These people want to know what’s going to be done now,” Mr. Payne expanded on his earlier remarks about short-term solutions.

He said the city has plans to hire personnel and purchase equipment for six or seven additional maintenance crews to help keep existing drainage pipes and ditches clear and to repair collapses pipes. The city also plans to establish a preventive maintenance schedule for the stormwater system, which he said had not been done before. These changes will be funded from the recent increase in stormwater fees, although he could not say when the new measures would begin since the new funds have not yet been received and budgeted.

As the meeting was ending, Dr. Berz said “You’ve heard a lot of stuff that probably didn’t satisfy a lot of people. The budget is very tight, but that’s no excuse. You’re going to see people in the area cleaning ditches and addressing your concerns.”

“I think this meeting was a very good start,” said Dr. Chandra, who was one of the organizers of the town hall meeting. “People from Public Works heard our concerns and we started a dialog. We have to continue that dialog now and be sure they are addressing the situation.”