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Canfield residents rail against inadequate stormwater infrastructure
CANFIELD
City residents still reeling from last week’s storm, rising waters and flood damage brought their concerns about the city’s inadequate stormwater infrastructure to a Wednesday council meeting.
Wade Calhoun, city manager, said any remedy would be incremental and years long, as a three-to-five-year analysis and prioritization of stormwater projects continues, potentially leading to another three years of renovation.
“I think everybody’s in the same boat – the number of people I’ve talked to on the phone, through emails. The entire city of Canfield was under water at some point,” he told The Vindicator. “It’s unfortunate so many homes were impacted, and I feel for every individual.”
Sarah Searcy, who moved to the city in 2016, said her Hood Drive home floods three to four times a year, leading to water cleanup, ruined interior and anti-microbial treatments to protect her young children from mold.
Several other residents took the podium to share their pain.
Nancy Brundage of Winona Avenue said this is the first time sewage has backed up into her home in 34 years. Ducks are swimming in her backyard, she said.
Tim Batton of Garwood Drive said his sanitary backup system hasn’t worked since he moved in 20 years ago.
“I’ve had to spend a little bit each year to clean up and throw away,” he said.
Resident Frank Micchia recommended enlarging the city’s culverts.
“At Glenview [Road], one 60-inch pipe handling all that water just doesn’t work,” he said.
Police took 110 storm-related calls over six hours during last week’s storm, Calhoun said. On average, the department takes 54 calls a day.
Surveyors from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and federal Small Business Administration are expected to be in the city today, reviewing some of its 436 damage assessments submitted to the state through the Mahoning County EMA last week, Calhoun said.
Even if county homeowners qualify for low-interest loans for cleanup, Searcy told council she’s “not interested in going into debt to fix the city’s problem.”
Searcy said she feels trapped in her home, which she suspects has decreased in value since she bought it three years ago due to storm damage.
“Would you pay for a house that floods consistently?” she said. “I’d like something more immediate. The thought of this not getting fixed for eight years – what does that mean for my family?”
Calhoun said, however, the city has prioritized this year’s stormwater system work along Hood Drive, Fairview and Maple avenues, Scott Street and a portion of U.S. Route 224 to Indian Lake. Portions of Briarcliff and Bradford drives near Canfield High School have already been addressed, he said.
City public works employees are now repairing storm drains and sinkholes exposed in the storm, said Superintendent John Rapp.
Those employees are learning how to use a new mobile camera system to view the interior of storm drains and sewer pipes and document their size and connections. Officials can turn that data over to engineers who can develop stormwater accumulation models and recommend the most impactful fixes.
“These are major infrastructure problems that need to be addressed,” Calhoun said. “I ask for patience.”