Roselle promoting yard flooding relief program

Roselle will cover as much as half the cost, up to $3,000, of homeowners' projects to reduce flooding on their property after rainfall.

Eligible projects can include regrading the yard to direct stormwater away from the house, installing a private storm sewer using gravity or a pump to move water, or installation of a rain garden designed to absorb water.

Trustee Wayne Domke said the Yard Flooding Assistance Program needs to be publicized more to residents and needs more money than the roughly $25,000 budgeted for it.

"Obviously, flooding is related to weather, but for people whose land has sunken over time, it can be a big problem even in drought," Domke said.

The program is meant to address flooding worsened by slopes that have become improperly pitched because of erosion or landscaping, building additions or sheds that affect drainage and added hard surfaces like patios and pool decks that reduce a lot's ability to absorb water.

Areas that flood around Lake Park High School's west campus, for instance, could be addressed with proper infrastructure investments, Domke said.

"They have been, in my opinion, underserved by the village," Domke said. "A simple pipe to an existing sewer would help them greatly."

Climate change may have has worsened the issue, as well. According to data by the Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the 2020 statewide total precipitation was more than 2 inches above the 1981-2010 normal in January, March, April and May. The data also showed that there were drier than normal months in June, August, October, November and December.

"It seems like in the last five years, we get a great amount of rainfall," Roselle Park District Director Lynn McAteer said. "I notice that as a homeowner. It just seems like it takes a bit longer to dry out."

Residents can apply at www.roselle.il.us/736/Yard-Flooding-Assistance-Program.