Helen Ivy,
a North City resident, was reading Bible stories to her
four-year-old grandson on the evening of June 25.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Just when he was getting sleepy, she heard a funny noise, as if something was bumping against the house, she said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I thought it was my dog on the back porch,” Ivy said. “And my grandbaby said, ‘Grandma, Coco want in.’ About that time, the thunder came.”
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ivy, 76, went to the front door to see whether a storm was coming in.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“And I’m not lying, that water was all the way up to the top of my porch,” she said. “The police lights were everywhere. They were saying, ‘Hold tight, hold tight.’”
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The flooding terrified her grandson, she said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“He said, ‘Grandma, we need Noah’s Ark,’” she said, chuckling.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In Ivy’s neighborhood near Interstate 70 and West Florissant Avenue, the sewer back-ups flooded the basements of several dozen homes, including Ivy’s, and rendered about 13 homes unlivable in Dryden Court across the street from her.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ivy’s house is one of the estimated 80 homes that will receive Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District reimbursements for flood damage.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>At neighborhood meetings on June 29 and June 30, the district told these residents that a power outage at their water pump station caused the sewer backups that flooded the homes on Dryden Avenue and Dryden Court.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>MSD estimates spending about $1.5 to $2 million to rebuild 13 homes in the Dryden Court area and to compensate other homeowners in the immediate area that had basement backups and other damage due to the power failure at the pump station, said Lance LeComb, spokesman for MSD.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>This was much different than what residents heard from MSD days after storm, Ivy said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The district’s initial position was that the flooding at Dryden Court had nothing to do with their system, said Ward 21 Alderman Antonio D. French.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>After conversations with local leaders and an internal investigation into their system, the district found that four gates at the Harlem water pump station did not open as designed after the power went out.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“About 48 hours later, they changed their position and accepted responsibility, and they are going to take care of all the costs associated with those folks getting back on track,” French said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>LeComb said so far, MSD data do not show that the power outage had anything to do with the sewer backups at Essex Place. “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Not dry on Essex “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“For residents in Essex Place, this is the third time in four years that they have been flooded out,” French said. “So we are working with MSD to come up with a long-term permanent solution.”
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Essex “font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>place is an extreme case, LeComb said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“There are parts of our system that don’t have enough capacity,” to handle heavy storms, he said. “You are going to have storms that overwhelm the system.”
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Over the next couple decades, MSD will be building deep underground tunnels, rain gardens, retention ponds and other “green” features to keep rain water off of the sewage system, as per an agreement with the federal government and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, LeComb said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In June 2007, the U.S. government and the State of Missouri filed a civil action against MSD, which alleged that the district had been in violation of the Clean Water Act by discharging untreated sewage from its collection system through combined sewer overflows and constructed sanitary sewer overflows. Soon after, the coalition intervened to help mediate, LeComb said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The agreement, which has yet to be finalized, would give the district 23 years to make about $4.7 billion worth of changes, according to the June 29, 2011 Board of Trustees agenda on the MSD website.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>LeComb said the investigation is ongoing into whether MSD is to blame for damages done in Essex Place and other neighborhoods. They will also be looking at what steps they can take to design a better system in those areas in the short and long term, he said.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>As of Tuesday, LeComb said a majority of the affected homes on Dryden Court and surrounding streets have fans and dehumidifiers to get the moisture out of homes. Depending how quickly the drying out process takes, refurbishment of home interiors could begin late this week or early next week. Concurrently, heating and cooling, electrical, and other needed work will proceed at the 13 homes that were evacuated by the city, he said.
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“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ivy said she tried to get residents in her neighborhood to attend two informational meetings on June 29 and 30. Her neighbor Susie Strayhorn, who attended, said her home insurance doesn’t cover floods. If MSD were not reimbursing the damages on her home, Strayhorn said she and her husband would be in trouble.
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We would have just been existing any way we could,” she said. “We’re old and don’t have a lot of money. We have a lot of bills.”
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ivy said, “Still, we haven’t gotten out of this. We can’t do it ourselves. We’re happy they are going to help us.”
