Durbin presses for study of causes, costs of urban flooding

CHICAGO (AP) - Members of Illinois' congressional delegation are asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to conduct a nationwide study on the causes and costs of urban flooding.

Flooding has been a recurring problem in and around Chicago, especially during the spring storm season.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley wrote the agency this past week to press for the study to be conducted quickly. The review is required under a congressional mandate included in the 2016 fiscal year budget.

Their letter says "increasingly destructive storms have pummeled ... our cities at alarming rates," and that Chicago alone has seen three "hundred-year floods" in the past five years.

The lawmakers noted that flooding and storm runoff have threatened the quality of drinking water, eroded river banks and spread pollution.