Here's Why Flooding Is Such An Issue In Elmhurst: Official

ELMHURST, IL — Unlike outlying suburbs, older ones such as Elmhurst have steeper challenges with flooding, a city official said last week.

Over the years, Elmhurst has spent millions dealing with stormwater issues in a number of neighborhoods. This effort picked up steam after flooding in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Much of Elmhurst was built out in the 1950s and 1960s. In those days, stormwater detention wasn't a priority, Elmhurst's city engineer, Kent Johnson, said during a virtual meeting last week.

"If you go west to what I call the sprawling suburbs, maybe Sugar Grove, or even farther south of Joliet, those subdivisions that are going in are being developed with new stormwater standards," Johnson said in a meeting about a planned stormwater project in Elmhurst's College View subdivision. "There is not a subdivision in those areas that do not have detention ponds incorporated in the designs."

Unfortunately, he said, Elmhurst's subdivisions were built during a time when stormwater was thought of differently. Historically, the town has constructed few stormwater detention basins.

Since 2015, the city has completed a dozen stormwater projects, with about 120 acre-feet of water detention, Johnson said. That's equivalent to 60 Olympic-sized pools. The city has bought a dozen homes and parts of two church properties to make room for stormwater storage, Johnson said.

As a result, he said, 450 homes now have more flooding protection, particularly from 100-year storms such as those more than a decade ago.

He noted a 100-year storm isn't one that will happen once every 100 years. Rather, he said, it's a one in a 100 chance that it will happen in any given year.

Of the projects so far, the city has spent nearly $40 million on construction and land acquisition, Johnson said.