KALAMAZOO, Mich. — When the Kalamazoo River crested at a record 11.3 feet in February, city officials immediately dealt with the subsequent flooding. Police shut down the downtown area. Fire crews canoed around the Lamont Street neighborhood, located near the river, making sure residents evacuated their homes. Major intersections, like Crosstown Parkway and Burdick Street, were filled with Road Closed signs.
“As people have probably noticed that the flooding down by the Crosstown ponds [and] Park Street is a safety hazard,” said Deputy City Manager Jeff Chamberlain during an interview at City Hall. “It’s a big inconvenience.”
Now, the city has decided to tackle future floods before they even begin. Chamberlain said they're teaming up with the United States Geological Service to examine the heavily flooded areas — mainly Portage Creek and Axtell Creek — to predict when floods will happen and how bad that will be
“This is called Lidar, a light-emitting radar,” said Chamberlain about the method of surveying they will use. “It’s very accurate, very detailed survey of the entire area that will give us very good data.”
Chamberlain said Lidar uses light to measure the depth of the water while contouring the ground. The data it collects will help them to see the water levels at the creeks flow into the Kalamazoo River.
“That will help us predict where that water will go and how high it will get whenever we get an inch of rain, two inches rain, or a foot of rain,” Chamberlain said.
For now, the city will work on dredging the Portage Creek and Crosstown ponds to help with day-to-day rains he said. They’re clearing out some of the sediment so that it holds more rain and doesn’t turn into floods.
“We want to clear out the ponds and get the silt out of there,” Chamberlain said. “Longterm we’re going to be looking at more extensive flood-control measures but we have to gather the data first.”
The 18-month project will cost around $300,000 and will begin in the Spring, he added. City officials may be looking at spending more money if longterm solutions are needed.
“We need to get the flooding under control as much as humanly possible,” Chamberlain said. “In the short-term though we need to better warn people that if there is going to be a flood, the best way to prepare for it is to announce it ahead of time.”
