Back in May 2020, several rainstorms led to severe street flooding. Walnut Street, between 17th Street and 19th Street, is a location that has historically had street flooding which has caused residential property damage.
This location is included in the State Street Creek Watershed Master Plan. The Plan recommends adding stormwater detention where practical, as well as increasing storm sewer pipe and culvert sizes to convey additional water through State Street Creek and to the Fox River. The City completed the first step of the master plan when the new police station was constructed, adding a large volume of stormwater detention, the first meaningful volume of detention within the watershed.
In response to flooding in May 2020, staff met with impacted residents in June. Then we began working toward interim improvements that would be beneficial to the watershed, until additional improvements could be planned and constructed. (This is a multi-year process.) In an effort to expedite meaningful benefits to residents, we asked our stormwater master plan design consultant to provide the us with additional modeling that would capitalize on some of the improvements made at the new police station. Modeling proved an interim solution to help reduce area flooding.
City engineering staff utilized the modeling results to design storm sewer improvements. The plan included a new storm sewer connecting the Walnut Street storm sewer to a larger storm sewer on the east side of S. 17th Street. This connection utilizes capacity in the larger pipe that was made available by the installation of the stormwater detention basin at the police station. Plans also included three new storm sewer structures to get water off the street and into the storm sewer.
Construction of the improvements was completed in October 2020. Flood improvements that started as a concept, were modeled, designed, bid, and constructed in approximately four months.
While this is one of many flood improvement success stories in St. Charles, please remember that our storm sewer can only function as designed if water can reach the system. In order to maximize efficiency of our drainage system, we ask that residents assist the City by removing trash and debris from the gutter, disposing of yard waste properly and removing any debris blocking storm grates.
Please remember the best way to reach the City to report flooding is to call our Public Works Main Line at 630.377.4405. If the call is after-hours or on a weekend, please follow the prompts and leave a detailed message, and our staff will respond as quickly as possible.
