MAHONING VALLEY FLOODING Report targets Poland library

Floodwaters undermined the retaining wall, consultants say.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Rebuilding a rock wall and adding flood plains in Yellow Creek are the recommendations of a stream management consulting firm to prevent flooding of the Poland library.
"The foundation rocks should be placed on the bedrock stream bottom. The soil behind the rock wall should be excavated and replaced with a porous material," such as sand or coarse gravel, said the report by Wallace & amp; Pancher Inc. of Hermitage.
The library hired the firm for $3,668 to study how to prevent Yellow Creek's floodwaters from entering the $6.5 million library, which opened in December 2001.
Library Director Carlton Sears said library officials will share the consultants' report with village and township officials.
"The problem is larger than the library itself," said Janet Loew, the library's communications and public relations director. "It does involve areas of this creek that are out of our control. Just coming in and doing some little thing by the library may not be enough."
Damaged twice this year
Even though the library was built 11/2 feet above the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projected once-in-100-year flood level, creek waters seeped into the library's lower level and dampened its carpet in May.
Earlier this month, the creek, swollen by heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Frances, poured several inches of water into the library's lower level, closing the library for one day and costing the library $2,500 to extract the water and clean and disinfect the carpet.
No shelved books in the Friends of Library bookstore on the library's lower level got wet, however. All library reference and circulating materials are housed on the main level, one flight above the flooded floor.
Environmental technicians have been advising the library on prevention of mold growth from flooding on the lower level. Because water entered through and buckled the baseboards, the technicians from Lawhon & amp; Associates of Cleveland advised removing and checking the baseboards and the area behind them for dampness. Loew said some of the baseboards likely will be replaced.
The library will be monitoring the situation and has mold-remediation experts ready to respond promptly if needed, Sears advised the library board in a recent memorandum.
Made preparations
Before the arrival of the remnants of Hurricane Ivan on Friday, library and Community Corrections Association workers erected a levee of about 2,000 sandbags to keep water out of the library, but the creek never rose above the rock wall, and the levee was never put to the test.
"It's going to stay there until we are able to do something else in that area," Loew said of the levee, which contains about 70 tons of sand.
Portions of the rock wall, built during construction of the new library, have slumped, the consultants' report noted. The areas that failed appeared to have soil beneath the large bottom rocks, and floodwaters eroded that soil and undermined the wall, the report said.
In contrast, the sections of the wall that remained stable had larger rocks resting on the creek's bedrock bottom with smaller rocks stacked above, the report says. Parts of the rock wall also had collapsed last year and had to be rebuilt, Loew said.
What consultants said
The consultants advocate excavating a new flood plain, 200 feet long and 45 feet wide at its widest point, directly across the creek from the library on land that is not owned by the library. They also advocate creating another flood plain downstream from the library near the U.S. Route 224 bridge.
They add, however, that a detailed hydraulic study would be needed to gauge how much these flood plains would reduce the creek's maximum flood levels.
Another recommendation from engineers, which is not contained in the Wallace & amp; Pancher report, is to excavate a trench behind the rock retaining wall, fill the trench with concrete and build a new and higher flood wall, Sears told the trustees. "That is something we're very seriously looking at," Loew said, adding that such a wall would be entirely on library property.
Since it doesn't own any of the proposed flood-plain area, "The only thing we can do is fix the rock wall and put up a concrete retaining wall," Loew said. No cost estimates are available for any of the proposed flood control options, Loew said.