Fort Wayne, Indiana - First Flood of 2009

March 10 - 13, 2009

 

I'm labeling this the First Flood of 2009, because we've had higher water than this, as late at July. This doesn't qualify as a serious flood, in my opinion, because city crews were able to stay well ahead of the rising water levels and there was no major property damage, just damage to the taxpayers who will have to pay the estimated $100,000 cost of the efforts for this particular event.

 

Heavy rains over the weekend, on top of already-saturated ground, caused the river to rise rapidly. City crews started building a clay temporary levee on Monday, and were well ahead of the rising water. However, the gates were closed that prevent floodwater from backing up into the storm sewer system. Water flowing down the storm sewers from higher areas had no place to go. Storm grates began regurgitating the water into the street behind the levee, and city crews brought in sandbags and pumps to protect low-lying homes.

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

 

 

Pumping storm sewer water into the river

 

 

 

City equipment and workers pile sandbags. Because a proposal for a permanent floodwall was rejected, neighborhood residents get to live in peril every spring of having their homes ruined, and listen to droning pumps all day and night.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 12, 2009

 

Storm sewer backup has nearly covered the intersection at Thieme and Wayne, a block south and just a block from my house.

 

 

The river has continued to rise and is about to run around the end of the levee. Soon trucks will bring in more clay.

 

Water boils up from a storm grate where the alley between Wayne and Berry ends at Thieme. The water flows along the curb downhill toward Berry & Thieme.

 

Three pumps working on the storm sewers at Berry & Thieme appear to have the situation well under control.

 

 

 

 

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Tire Trouble

 

 

 

Twenty-four hours earlier the situation here looked completely under control, and officials thought the worst was past along the St Marys River. Then the crest on the St Joseph River arrived, and combined with an already-overloaded Maumee, caused a backup that extended for a couple of miles upstream on the St Marys. While the river south of town had dropped to 17 feet, nearer the confluence it surged to more than 22 feet and flooded Berry & Thieme again. City crews brought in another pump and more clay.

 

 

 

 

 

The pink tape around the tree marks the level of a hundred-year flood. At that point I start to get water in the basement of my rental house. If I recall correctly, water has reached the hundred-year-flood level three times since 1978. Maybe it's time to recalibrate the statistics?

 

Friday, March 13, 2009

Three pumps are holding their own, and the river level is starting to fall.

 

Some views around the vicinity of Thieme Drive and West Main Street and the 1911 Thieme Drive Overlook.

 

 

 

 

 

See the railing just poking above the water on the left, just this side of the railroad bridge? That's where the Rivergreenway goes under the railroad. The railroad bridge is on the Norfolk Southern's former Nickel Plate line that follows the route of the Wabash-Erie Canal through downtown.

 

 

 

The house where actress Carole Lombard, AKA Jane Peters, was born.

Rob, how close is your house to all this?

 

You've show up pictures of past floods and I'm not quite sure how close you are.  Frankly I'm a little worried for your safety.

 

On the bright side, you don't have any speeders at this time of the year.

Yeah, Rob, how close is this to you?  That's crazy.

See where the two cars are parked on the left? They're parked in front of my houses. My rental is just above the nearer of the two cars. I'm not far away, but as you can see, the land rises sharply there. At the hundred-year level, water begins to back up into the basement.

 

 

 

Rob, these are great. Thank you for sharing. Hope you and your house stay safe through all this and any more rain that may come with spring. My mother grew up in Ft. Wayne and I used to go there often to see family. She really enjoyed seeing these.

...  My mother grew up in Ft. Wayne and I used to go there often to see family. She really enjoyed seeing these.

I'm glad you and your mom enjoyed the photos; I had an interesting time taking them. Have you found the other Fort Wayne photos on my urbanindiana.com web site? They're here.

Awesome job!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Delayed aftermath

 

With the exception of a few old houses like mine, most of the area along Thieme Drive wasn't developed until around 1911 and later, about through the early 1920s. Before development, much of it was low-lying land, and I think there might have been a ravine or creek bed running in to the river. The street wasn't built until about 1911, and at some earlier time, the first route of the Fort Wayne and Southwestern interurban ran approximately where the street lies. Test borings and erosion have shown that some of the fill is coal ash, quite possibly from the interurban power plant, and a substantial layer of clay with building debris (bricks, roof slates, etc.) overlies the native sand and clay mix.

 

The area lies on the downstream, outside of a curve in the river, and I had noticed more than twenty years ago that during periods of high water the river was cutting into the clay and sand, and undermining the fill layer on top, possibly endangering the street. I tried a few times to report the problem to the street department, and they'd send some guy in overalls who'd look over the edge, spit, say "I don't see nothin." and get back in his pickup and drive away. You could only see the undercutting if you walked on the dry edge of the riverbed at extreme low water and looked up at it (or used a boat on the river).

 

Finally about five years ago a section gave way, and about thirty linear feet of fill, about four feet wide, dropped about ten feet, trees and all. That's when the city got serious. Army Corps of Engineers got involved and proposed a flood wall to withstand a hundred-year flood, plus two feet. By my recollection from atteding some neighborhood meetings at the time, there were objections from a few people for various reasons, most of which I personally can't validate. The whole thing see-sawed back and forth as planners and engineers tried to appease everyone, and eventually the Corps allocated the money elsewhere.

 

Today:

 

The prolonged high water turned the underlying strata into slurry, and when the water receded, it took the slurry with it. An addition forty or fifty feet of riverbank slid to the water level, with the cave-in area coming to within a foot of the pavement. With the soil and fill under the street still saturated and seeping water, I don't think it would take a very heavy load to collapse part of the street.

 

 

 

This evening I sent an email to the supervisor in Flood Control, with the photos attached.

What a great thread...lending a great photographic eye to a pressing issue - go Rob!

 

Hope you opened some eyes at the meeting!

 

Frustrating.

What a great thread...lending a great photographic eye to a pressing issue - go Rob!

 

Hope you opened some eyes at the meeting!

Everyone tries to be nice at the meetings, and I've tried to abide by that. The only ones who get strident are the status-quo advocates, and it's hard to get heard.

 

City flood control offices don't open for another fifteen minutes or so. If the supervisor checks her email first thing, I suspect there will be city engineers in my block before noon. Continuing erosion endangers not only the street, but a sewer interceptor beneath it. This could be interesting; I'll keep y'alls posted. :-D

 

Edit 8:55AM: I just received this from Flood Control

"Robert

You have excellent timing.  We were discussing resurrecting this project with stimulus funds.  We are having the Army Corps of Engineers look into what it’s going to take to finish the project we started.

Thanks for the pictures.  We will keep you informed on the progress of this project."

Well, I just found this site.  I would like to correct some - actually many - inaccuracies by the poster called "Rob" who writes about the First Flood of 2009 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  This is one of the problems with the internet.  People can spread any kind of lies and misinformation they want to.

 

I am the woman that he continues to malign for no reason.  So let me get started to let you know what is really going on and how he has manipulated and lied about the situation on Thieme Drive to try to impress all of you with his bravado.

 

1.  The West Central Neighborhood Association - not just me - voted to oppose the building of a concrete 10-foot wall along Thieme Drive.  No one - save Mr. Pence - wanted a concrete wall in the neighborhood.  He blames me because I didn't want a wall, and I took action.  Nothing wrong with that.  The neighborhood association agreed with me, and voted to let the City know we did not want the wall.  In a number of meetings held by the City, other residents appeared and also let the City know they did not want the wall.  I do not have as much power as Mr. Pence would have you believe, but the association does, and they agreed with me.

 

2.  Mr. Pence does not live near the area that he is talking about.  He lives at least the equivalent of three blocks away, so when he tries to make it sound like he is flooding and the river is right on top of him, he is flat out lying.  So to that person who is worried about him, don't.  He lives a good distance from the area that irks him.

 

3.  Here is my blog, and you can check out a picture of my house - which he has labeled as the worst looking one on the street.  http://berrystreetbeacon.wordpress.com.  Does it need some work?  Of course.  Old homes in old neighborhoods require upkeep.  I do a lot of the work myself, and it takes me time since I have a physical disability.  During the summer months, neighbors and people walking around the neighborhood tell me how beautiful my home is with my flowers out front.

 

4.  I have never opposed the work at his end of the street, and I have never opposed the cutting down of the weed trees (Trees of Heaven).  Neither has anyone else in the neighborhood as far as I know.  The Corps undertook a Section 14 CAP Study several years ago.  Mr. Pence blames me for the Corps not following through with the repairs at his location.  Here is the fact sheet for the repair work, and, as you can see, there simply was no funding for the project - the notion that I have the power to stop such a project is ridiculous.

 

Here is the link to the Corps' site and the fact sheet which shows no funding (sorry Robert, I am just not that powerful that I can pull the plug on federal funding):

 

http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=5069&destination=ShowItem

 

If all of you want to keep on believing Mr. Pence, that is up to you.  He knows he is exaggerating and lying about what is going on.  Furthermore, he is not impacted by flooding.  For some reason he has decided to carry out a campaign of lies and misinformation about me and the Thieme Drive situation.  I hope the Corps does repair his area which is blocks from me.

 

Thieme Drive is an historical drive in an historical neighborhood.  It was named after Theodore Thieme, one of Fort Wayne's leading entrepreneurs and benefactors.  He built a small park overlook at the end opposite to Mr. Pence's location.  The Drive is protected by the National Registry of Historical Places because it was designed by one of the country's premier landscape architects, George Kessler.  Mr. Kessler's designs from the early 1900s are prized and protected all across this country. 

 

I admit I love the environment and history.  To me, protecting and beautifying this stretch of the River Greenway is important.  It is one of the few river drives left in Fort Wayne that isn't hidden behind levees and walls.  I continue to stand by my position to protect Thieme Drive, but I think that Mr. Pence should at least be honest about the information he puts out.

Charlotte, I apologize for offending you. Indeed, some of my remarks may have been unkind. I regret that some other forumers may respond even more unkindly. I wll do my best to forestall that.

 

I've been quite busy recovering from expensive damage to my properties during December's ice storm, and some of my comments may have been hasty. As soon as I have time to review your information in detail, I'll modify my comments accordingly.

 

With all respect and kind regards.

 

And you other guys who might be inclined to send impolite PMs to Charlotte, back off so that I don't have to get into a discussion with you. :bang2:

Is building a dam possible?

 

Charlotte, I appreciate the corrections.  That's what these types of forums are all about.  But even if indviduals can be critical, regardless of proximity to the problem, I can't help but notice the defense is somewhat mean spirited.

 

Fort Wayne, Indiana - First Flood of 2009

March 10 - 13, 2009

 

I'm labeling this the First Flood of 2009, because we've had higher water than this, as late at July. This doesn't qualify as a serious flood, in my opinion, because city crews were able to stay well ahead of the rising water levels and there was no major property damage, just damage to the taxpayers who will have to pay the estimated $100,000 cost of the efforts for this particular event.

 

I'd imagine flood insurance is required for a lot of homeowners in your neighborhood. It must be astronomical. Couple that with citizens having to pay for these services; thats crazy.

 

I think land owners with the worst impervious surface ratio should have to pay higher property taxes. Is that something you guys could look into? I don't know how much of a difference it would make in this situation but maybe it would be worth looking into? It looks like you have some very big parking lots bordering the river. Those parking lots aren't absorbing and retaining water; they're just causing stormwater runoff to catch pollutants and sends them to nearby rivers and rentention ponds.

 

Glad you're okay though. I guess you gotta look at the bright side, it could have been a lot worse.

Is building a dam possible?

 

[ ... ]

 

The St. Marys and St. Joseph Rivers flow together in Fort Wayne to form the Maumee River, which flows northeast to Lake Erie at Toledo. The watersheds of both rivers, especially the St. Marys, are mostly flat lacking in the sorts of valleys and large ravines that would provide very much storage capacity.

 

I'd imagine flood insurance is required for a lot of homeowners in your neighborhood. It must be astronomical. Couple that with citizens having to pay for these services; thats crazy.

 

I think land owners with the worst impervious surface ratio should have to pay higher property taxes. Is that something you guys could look into? I don't know how much of a difference it would make in this situation but maybe it would be worth looking into? It looks like you have some very big parking lots bordering the river. Those parking lots aren't absorbing and retaining water; they're just causing stormwater runoff to catch pollutants and sends them to nearby rivers and rentention ponds.

 

Glad you're okay though. I guess you gotta look at the bright side, it could have been a lot worse.

 

The land in the neighborhood rises sharply away from the river, so flooding is concentrated in a small area; still there are several - I'm not sure how many - who pay for flood insurance. The last I heard, it was about $500/year on top of regular homeowner's insurance. With the increased incidence of flooding, that may rise. A further consequence to owners in the flood plain is that their ability to make major changes to their homes including expansion is restricted, even if the proposed changes meet all the guidelines for historical appropriateness.

 

I read several years ago that in Fort Wayne's CBD, 75% of the land area is taken up by streets and parking lots. Since that time I can't think of any former parking lots that have been built upon, but I can think of buildings that have been razed to create parking lots.

 

Our property tax structure places about 75 - 80% of assessed value on improvements, mainly buildings, with the remainder on land. It's an incentive for investors to buy undervalued buildings and houses and raze them and then lease the land to a parking operator. The policy erodes tax revenues and urban density, and provides an incentive for development of big-box stores and sprawling strip centers on the fringes of the city.

 

I advocate inverting the present tax structure to place most of the tax burden on land with a smaller portion applying to the buildings. That would reduce the attractiveness of creating parking-lot sprawl and provide incentive for dense urban development and mixed use. Admittedly a rooftop is as impermeable as a parking lot, but there are offsets; there's been increasing interest in rooftop rain gardens, and a return to urban density combined with planned reclamation of abandoned strip malls and other sprawl could reduce the total amount of impermeable surface in our watersheds.

Hayward:

 

I honestly felt some of Rob's comments about me were mean-spirited, but perhaps you didn't.  At any rate, if my comments offended, I apologize;  I was trying to get my point across that some of the facts just weren't true.

 

I pay flood insurance of $500 a year on top of my homeowner's insurance of $480 a year, so my total to protect my home is about a $1,000 a year.

 

I don't see how the flood insurance can increase - we have no losses.  In the 14 years I have lived in my home, I have made one claim of $489.  That was for renting a pump, buying gas, and providing labor during the Flood of January 2005.  During that flood, the City had not perfected its use of a clay dike and pumps, so my neighbor and I chipped in to rent a large pump and ran it 24/7 for several days.

 

This is what I have continually tried to impress upon the City and others - that while the flooding is a nuisance, those impacted do not have losses worth much at all.  I have never lost any furniture, appliances, clothing, or anything.

 

The homes that have garages backed onto Thieme Drive may lose a couple of hundred dollars of items stored in their garages, but as to actual structural damage from a flood, it just doesn't happen.  The steep slopes from east to west on Berry and south to north on Nelson keep the water in the small area that Rob has shown in his pictures.

 

I am never prevented from getting in and out of my home because I park at the back and go in.  I have always used that entrance.

 

As to the cost to the City, this was the first year the City took a stab at estimating what it cost.  The estimate was around $100,000 - that figure was from a city worker, and he did not have figures to back it up.  It could also have included work on other areas in West Central.

Charlotte, now that you've found Urbanohio.com, if you haven't already spent some time looking around the City Photos - Ohio and City Photos - USA/World sections, I recommend that you do so. I think you'll find it very enjoyable. There's a lot of outstanding talent among the people who frequent the site, and some are very well-traveled, too.

Hello all,

 

I have never posted anything to anywhere on the internet so I apologize if I am not doing this correctly.  I am a territory manager for a company that provides flood protection systems.  This is a new product that we are just introducing to the United States even though it has been used in Europe and Asia for the last ten years.  We started making them and marketing them in St. Louis in March of this year. 

 

I am just starting to work with Federal, State, local and private entities in Indiana to educate them about our products and help communities develop strategies for addressing their flooding problems..  We have been working with Missouri and Iowas and I am just now starting to work with Indiana.  MODOT has recently chose our solution to replace sandbags to

address their flooding situations.

 

While doing research on flooding in Indiana I came across this blog and the pictures posted by Robert and all of your comments.  I can appreciate what you all have gone through as my hometown was flooded in the MO floods in 1993 which is why I have worked to find a viable solution for people to be able to protect their property that is

easy to deploy, is not a permanent wall and is more cost effective than deploying sandbags....etc. 

 

If you want to learn more about us, please visit our website at www.bigbagsusa and/or send me an email.  I hope I have not broken any rules,  I am just trying to let people like yourselves know there are new options out there that might work for them.  Thank you and good luck with dealing with your flooding issues....