It floods in Rapid City, and the city leaders are looking to strengthen proactive efforts that have been underway for several years, to mitigate the flood waters.
Public Works Committee members on Tuesday heard a lengthy presentation regarding stormwater management and drainage issues, that included the history of stormwater management, floods in Rapid city, the Meade-Hawthorne drainage basin, the performance of the Robbinsdale pond, the fairly new drainage stormwater utility project funding, as well as FEMA flood insurance and flood designation.
Public Works Director Dale Tech said when the city was built, there was no consideration regarding flood mitigation. Drainages have since been built but not maintained. A city task force in 1995 recommended that the city create a drainage utility to address the funding shortfalls, but nothing ever came of the report. Recently, there was a lot of push back when a drainage fund was proposed and then was established a few years ago.
Tech said drainage of water away from homes is as necessary as maintaining roads…..
Paul Craft from Sperlich Construction gave the presentation and offered
future improvement recommendations after the May 18the storm event.
Floods are the leading natural disaster in the U.S.
Story By: KOTA’s Marnie Cook
