Mount Prospect hires engineers to visit flooded homes

Mount Prospect trustees agreed Tuesday to hire a Kansas City-based engineering firm to visit homes flooded by the July 23 storms and help the village determine how to prevent it in the future.

The work done by the firm Burns and McDonnell — at a cost not to exceed $44,500 — will supplement visits already being conducted by village staff, Public Works Director Sean Dorsey told the village board.

Nearly 700 homes reported basement or other structural damage as a result of the storm, which dumped as much as 7 inches of rain on the area in just three hours.

“It is our intention to investigate each one of these complaints,” Dorsey said.

At this point, village staff has identified two areas of town for further examination: the Hatlen Heights subdivision and the single-family homes located near North Pine Street and North Wille Street.

“These areas received a good amount of flooding,” Dorsey said.

The village plans to visit each home to learn how they were flooded and identify the path of the flood. Staff also will review inspection records and past flooding complaints to develop computer models and ultimately prepare a “cause and effect” document to explain the flooding.

“It is truly important to know exactly what happened,” Mayor Irvana Wilks said. “Everyone is very passionate about what happened. This way someone can visit their home and look at the circumstance and find out exactly what happened.”

Dorsey said Burns and McDonnell, which has offices in Downers Grove, already has worked on a variety of civil engineering projects for the village.

Trustee Arlene Juracek said it is important to understand the natural water table depth in those area, as well as the hydrology of the soils.

“I would like to get a picture of the hydrology of these two areas, so that not only we on the board, but some of the residents of those areas have a better understanding of how the water is supposed to flow,” she said.

Trustee Steven Polit questioned what might happen if the study discovers that some homeowners bear a share of the responsibility for their flooding.

“If it turns out that someone’s problem is a problem with their own system, are they going to turn a deaf ear to it and take a risk that it will flood a second time?” he asked. “Or are they going to say, ‘I take responsibility for fixing my own problem?’”