Norridge plans meeting on flood report for residents

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Updated: March 17, 2012 9:56AM

Norridge trustees accepted the final version of a flood report prepared for the village by a Westchester-based engineering firm.

The report, done by the Edwin Hancock Engineering Co., was created in response to the substantial flooding caused by the rain storm on July 23, 2011 because residents raised concerns about the flooding it caused on streets and in residential basements.

The report stated that the affected area (Octavia Avenue and Odell Avenue between Irving Park Road and Berteau Avenue) is prone to flooding of this sort, however the rain fall (6.86 inches) on July 23 was “unprecedented.”

The village will explain the report to residents at a meeting at 6 p.m. March 7 at the Estelle Sieb Community Center, 7774 W. Irving Park Road. Village staff and representatives from Hancock Engineering will be on hand to answer questions. Seepage, sewer back-up, and inundation are the three storm water runoff sources that cause basement flooding, while street flooding occurs when the storm sewer capacity has been exceeded by the source of storm water, according to the report’s executive summary.

“The meeting is open to anyone, but it is intended for the residents who were affected,” explained Brian M. Gaseor, building department director and village engineer. “Hopefully we made it as easy as possible to understand,” said Trustee Dominic Sulimowski.