Greeley Finalized Plans To Fix Drainage System Less Than 24 Hours Before Storm Flooded Downtown
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- Just 24 hours before heavy rainstorms flooded historic downtown Greeley homes and roadways, the City of Greeley's city manager finalized plans to fix the problem that caused the very issue. City Manager Roy Otto said his office completed their plans to start replacing archaic and small drainage pipes lining Downtown Greeley as soon as next year a matter of hours before the storm hit, exposing the issue once again.
"It has been a problem for years. It's a chronic problem," one resident told CBS4. "We go to the city and say, 'When will it be fixed?' And they say, 'Next time we will put money, next time we will put money.'"
While the frequency of the flooding is debated, the fact that it happens is not. Otto said his office plans to ask Greeley City Council to approve a $40 million project which will replace a series of drainage pipes from the Poudre River west into Downtown Greeley.
"Is it a problem that we know we've had? Yes, absolutely. We'll spend roughly $40 million over the next five years to work on downtown flooding problems," Otto told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
Otto said the storm on Thursday dropped so much rain that most cities throughout Colorado would've had similar issues with roadways and basements flooding.
Staff at City Hall, including Otto, spent their Thursday evening trying to prevent flooding in their facility.
"Yesterday was clearly a capacity issue. We had an approximately four-inch rain storm in one hour, which is a deluge," Otto said. "City Hall was an island. The system just could not keep up with that amount of water."
One spokesperson for the city said some pipes may be at least 100 years old. Otto said many in the downtown area are at least 75 years old and far too small for the growth of the area.
As the population rises and housing developments continue to replace the natural sponges that once were farmlands, the water drains more quickly to the city.
"You get more and more water coming off of asphalt, there is just nowhere for that water to go. We need to build bigger pipes," Otto said.
Otto hopes approval from the city will allow the construction of new pipes to begin as soon as 2022. A total of $15 million is expected to be spent in the first year to begin the project.
However, residents likely won't see any work or impacts on the system for at least a few years. Otto said construction would begin at the river and make its way back toward the community. That is done to prevent a funnel effect that would cause backups.
And, even when the project is completed in five years, Otto said flooding may still occur. The new pipes would, ideally, prevent water from flooding homes. However, the right storm would still be capable of flooding streets.
"We are definitely aware of some flooding challenges in our downtown area. We are moving forward with a very significant capital improvement over the next five years to try and start alleviating that problem," Otto said.