Harrisburg citizens ask city for more action on flooding
Harrisburg residents affected by April's severe flooding kept pressure on the Harrisburg city council Thursday, asking what the city is doing to preventing future floods.
David Crest, owner of Illinois Storage, asked Mayor John McPeek and councilmen Richard Harper and Mike Weirauch what can be done in addition to planning for a retention pond.
At the May 18 council meeting, Crest described how his and his wife, Jamie's, storage business was damaged by flooding. They are concerned that customers will leave them if they cannot guarantee their storage facilities will not flood.
Crest said he was especially concerned because until recent years, the Gaskins City area where one of his units is located, has not been prone to flooding.
"I'd like to ask the city to not permit any additional building in this area until the problem is resolved," he told council members. He also asked for additional paperwork concerning the floodplain. He said that according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood map of Harrisburg, the location of his storage unit is designated an "X."
"My understanding is that within that area, it shouldn't ever flood unless the levee breaks or the pumps fail," Crest said.
McPeek said city engineer Jim Brown and Fire Chief John Gunning, who also is the city's floodplain manager, would help Crest with any information he needed.
Meanwhile, Harrisburg Township Park District Executive Director Ron Emery also asked the council for additional help mitigating future flooding. The park is located immediately west of Crest's primary storage facility site, with another 10 acres in Gaskins City.
Emery said damage from flooding at its baseball diamonds in Gaskins City amounted to between $13,000 and $15,000.
"That's money that goes right back to the kids' programs," Emery said. The baseball fields lost turf, the concession stand and its contents were severely damaged and debris across the parking lots and baseball fields had so much broken glass and needles that the facility reopened five days later than originally planned after floodwaters receded, Emery said.
Resident Judy Cape also asked why flooding that once plagued the northwest end of town near Kroger no longer was an issue. McPeek said a pumping station built there has made a significant difference.
Cape, along with Crest and Emery asked whether a pumping station could be built near the Gaskins City area, or if another solution could reduce flooding.
McPeek said that in addition to directing Brown to start an application with FEMA and Illinois Emergency Management Agency for a detention pond, he urged all residents to contact all state and federal lawmakers and ask for help with funding flood-reduction projects.