Heavy rains trigger flooding in Glenns Ferry Tuesday

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Torrential rains that fell last Tuesday evening in Glenns Ferry overwhelmed the city's drainage system forcing public works employees to work well into the next morning.

Unable to keep up with the downpour in Glenns Ferry Tuesday night, the drainage system backed up in an area of East Cleveland Avenue, flooding the basements or crawlspaces of three homes.

Silt and debris, clogged a section of pipe that runs along the East Madison Avenue easement, causing a line failure and sending thousands of gallons of runoff and raw sewage onto private property.

The city operates a "dual" system in which street runoff and sewage share the same line. This type of system is no longer allowed.

City crews were called out and a backhoe was brought in to excavate a deep trench to divert the runoff away from buildings. The high volume of water undermined a manhole, causing it to collapse.

City Public Works Superintendent Jeff Cook contacted a contractor from Shoshone who brought down apparatus to clear the line, enabling city workers to insert a new section of pipe into the existing line.

The next day, city workers returned to the site and began clean-up efforts. Cook contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, but as of last Thursday his call had not been returned.

A similar problem that occurred several years ago in the same location did not require an environmental clean up. City crews spread lime to eliminate odor and kill some of the bacteria.

"I think they [city crews] did an excellent job of fixing the problem and cleaning up. It was just one of those things," said property owner Gardner Brown.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: