The wettest April on record for the Cleveland area has led to more flooded basements in Avon Lake after the “perfect storm” on February 28. Storms on Friday, April 22 and Monday, April 25 caused basement flooding, primarily on Lake Road and in James Circle.
Avon Lake Municipal Utilities asked residents to join in a partnership to mitigate flooding in a special meeting at city hall on March 24. What has ALMU accomplished in the intervening time?
ALMU staff has removed two storm sources from the sanitary sewer, including one on Harvey Parkway and one on Curtis Drive, and is investigating more. Staff believes some foundation drains are still connected to the sanitary sewer by sump pumps, which is against ALMU regulations, and will be instituting a program of basement inspections in formerly combined sewer and other suspected areas, to assure sump pumps are not discharging to the sanitary sewer. Sump pumps can quickly overwhelm a sewer during saturated conditions.
Capital improvements that will help mitigate basement flooding are the Bellaire-Inwood-Dellwood sewer rehabilitation projects. Bidding for the project will take place this week and construction is scheduled to begin June 6, weather permitting.
You can help by inviting an ALMU representative into your home to inspect your sump pump. It will only take about five minutes to determine if there is a problem with the connection. You can also help to relieve basement flooding by keeping the sewer clean-out pipe in your yard capped. Don’t be tempted to use it as a yard drain.
To learn more about what you can do to reduce the risk of basement flooding go to the ALMU’s website at www.avonlake.org and download the document “Mitigating Basement Backups”. If you have questions or would like to have your sump pump inspected, please call us at 440-933-6226.
You can also receive basement flooding warnings and other useful information on Twitter (http://twitter.com/AvonLakeWater) at ALMU’s website. We are also making arrangements for connection to CodeRed, a high-speed telephone service only used for emergency notification purposes. To register for CodeRed go to the City of Avon Lake’s website www.avonlake.org.
Several residents from James Circle and Coveland Drive attended the Avon Lake Municipal Utilities Board Meeting on May 2.
