In Mahoning County, violent storms hit suburbs hard

A MetroParks office basement was flooded with sewage.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
Youngstown's suburbs were particularly hard hit by last weekend's thunderstorms, and the fallout -- and cleanup -- took center stage at public meetings Monday.
Mill Creek MetroParks officials are hoping for dry weather this week so they can repair damage and be ready for Memorial Day.
"Let's hope we stay dry for awhile," said Carol Potter, park director of development and marketing, adding that this holiday weekend is typically the "big kickoff" of summer in Mill Creek Park.
She noted the park suffered extensive damage from high winds and flooding rains during the storms. Several sections of the park are closed while workers make repairs.
Park officials have yet to estimate the damage cost, she added.
Affected parts of park
The areas affected by the storms include the park golf courses and West Golf Drive, all in Boardman Township, and of which were closed because of flooding and damage from fallen trees.
Park workers hoped to have the road repaired, Potter said, while the north golf course was slated to be open today.
Parts of the south golf course remain flooded, in particular the 17th and 18th holes, Potter said. She said park workers hoped to have the south course open as soon as possible.
The storm also caused the basement of the park offices at the experimental farm on state Route 46 in Canfield to flood with "a couple of feet" of sewage, destroying park print materials and damaging a furnace, Potter said.
Sections of the Mill Creek MetroParks bikeway also were blocked by fallen trees over the weekend, and the stone building at the Kirk Road bikeway trailhead was flooded, Potter said. Both the trailhead building and the bikeway were reopened Monday after being closed for repairs over the weekend, she said.
Workers also are checking to determine if park bridges were damaged by the flooding, Potter continued. She said a bridge on a trail connector near Lake Newport was covered by floodwaters over the weekend.
Poland area
In Poland, library officials say flooding at the Poland branch library over the weekend could not have been prevented or predicted.
Water ran over the banks of Yellow Creek and flooded most of the lower level of the library building over the weekend.
Janet Loew, communications and public relations director for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, said doors on the lower level kept most of the water out of the building. The bookstore and meeting room suffered water damage.
Loew did not have an estimate of the cleanup and repair cost, but said it would be minimal. She said the library did not lose any property in the flooding. The only cost, she said, will be associated with cleanup.
By Monday afternoon, the water had receded, but evidence of the flood was still visible. The elevator shaft -- still holding water -- was being cleaned and repaired.
Loew said the building was designed to handle water in excess of 4 feet above the 100-year flood level. She is at a loss as to how the creek has flooded above the design level twice in two years.
Loew said the library will be bringing in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look into the situation and determine why the creek is flooding.
In Boardman Township
Boardman Township officials have again been fielding a significant number of calls from residents who experienced flooding over the weekend.
Township Administrator Curt Seditz said the calls have been fewer, however, than last summer, when heavy rain flooded most of the township.
Gary Dawson, township road superintendent, said the recent flooding was more isolated to the south and west ends of the township.
Trustees had forms ready Monday night for residents who experienced flooding to fill out. Some had already filled out the forms last year and just wanted some answers as to what is being done about the flooding.
John Jamieson of Glenwood Avenue informed trustees that he has joined a class-action lawsuit against the township for flooding. A Michigan-based attorney is looking into filing the lawsuit against the township.
Trustees have conducted a flood study and will meet with consultants at a June 14 trustees' meeting at St. James Meeting House in Boardman Park to discuss the findings. Trustee Tom Costello said consultants will put a price on various projects that would alleviate some of the flooding issues.
Costello said that after the June 14 meeting, trustees can begin to analyze the projects and determine which projects can be done. He said there is not enough funding to do all the projects on the list and some projects cross several jurisdictions.
Canfield Township
Canfield Township officials said the township's stormwater detention and management efforts helped keep the weekend flooding in check.
"The detention areas that are installed are making an impact," Road Supervisor Gary Cook told the township trustees.
Trustee Chairman Paul Moracco praised Cook and his staff for their "preventive maintenance" efforts in stormwater management.
In the previously flood-plagued Fox Den development, "All our culverts and all our system was perfectly clean. We worked real hard to clean all our basins," Cook said. There, the large detention system worked very well, and water did not go over the road as it did in the past, he said.
On Saturday, road crews removed two fallen locust trees on Quaker Court, an ash tree on Mission Hills Drive and part of another tree on Memory Lane and cut a low-hanging tree limb on Adeer Drive, Cook reported.
Road crews were called out to barricade a flooded part of Starr Centre Drive near Old Tippecanoe Road and removed a dump truck full of storm debris from the streets in that area.
Flooded intersection
The intersection of Tippecanoe Road, Lockwood Boulevard and U.S. Route 224 was flooded to the point where it was impassable and had to be closed for a short time, Cook reported.
Although flooding couldn't be entirely eliminated, he said of Indian Run Creek, "It was designed for the [once-in-a] 100-year storm. I think it functioned very well." Two apartments on Indian Run Drive were reported flooded, but the water did not go over the road, he noted. The water volume exceeded the capacity of drainage pipes there, but the water remained in the drainage channel, he said.
In late March, the township had hired a contractor to trim brush along the creek from St. Andrews Drive to Tippecanoe Road to alleviate flooding in the Starr's Corners area, which was flood-stricken last summer.
In the upstream area, where the township used Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to dredge the creek, water remained within the stream embankments and did not go over the road as it did on several previous occasions, Cook added.