Here's The Recent Flooding History In La Grange

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange residents say flooding is getting worse in town. Some point to climate change as a factor. Others blame the lack of action to deal with the problem.

After flooding in 2014, the village government stepped up its efforts to solve drainage issues, particularly on the town's south side. Voters decided to allow the village to go $14 million into debt to deal with flooding.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Paul Siegfried, an engineer with Baxter & Woodman, documented the history of four major storms going back to 2010. Here is his information:

• July 23-24, 2010: 6.8 inches of rainfall, including 6 inches within eight hours. Called a 50-year storm (2 percent chance annually)
• Aug. 21-22, 2014: 4.2 inches of rainfall, including 2.3 inches within three hours. Called a five-year storm (20 percent chance annually)
• May 14-17, 2020: 6.4 inches of rainfall, including 1.1 inches in 45 minutes. Called a 10-year storm (10 percent chance annually)
• June 27, 2021: 3.3 inches of rainfall, including 2.7 inches within 1½ hours. Called a 10-year storm (10 percent change annually)

In 2020, the village's storm sewer system handled the storm "very well" for the first three days, Siegfried said. But on the last day, the more than an inch of rain within 45 minutes fell on already-saturated ground, causing significant flooding, he said.

"The storms all caused flooding," Siegfried said. "The biggest takeaway is that the period of high intensity rainfall ... overwhelms the capacity of the system. That is really more important than the total amount of rainfall during a storm event."