The storm which dumped more than 7.4 inches of rain on Montgomery earlier this month may be over, but the memory of the downpour lingers among village residents.
Residents turned out in force at the Montgomery Village Board meeting this week to question local leaders why the mid-October storm left water in their yards and flooded basements. Homeowners said in addition to flood cleanup they are now dealing with mold issues.
Pete Wallers, village engineer, said the storm dropped between 7.4 and 7.8 inches of rain in a 48-hour period in Montgomery.
“That is significant,” he said.
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Wallers and other village officials said they knew from experience that rains of that magnitude would cause damage to some property in the village.
Board members said they will investigate why two subdivisions in Montgomery experienced severe flooding that left behind significant damage. Some residents wondered if the work at the new Aurora University sports complex in the village had anything to do with the flooding.
Larry Phillips, who lives at one of the affected homes in the Lindenwood subdivision, said the complex is “beautiful and it will make a great sports complex but they haven’t taken care of the water runoff.”
Phillips said the storms came in two waves and that after just the first portion, his property had significant standing water.
Other residents told of the problems they are currently dealing with, from flooded and mold-infested basements to seepage into foundations and garage problems. Emily and Jessica Sharp said they had left their house sealed up and had gone on vacation. When they returned, their garage had sunk into the foundation and significant mold had started to infiltrate their home.
Residents from Lakewood Creek subdivision also spoke to the board about flooding issues. Chris Hettinger told trustees she was concerned when there was standing water in her backyard after a minor storm in May. She questioned whether the building of the sports complex was the cause of their new problems. Other residents said they had lived in their homes for many years with no problems.
Mayor Matt Brolley told the residents the board understood the issues involved.
“We know this is a problem to you. Aurora University is very agreeable to looking for a solution on this. Give us your email and we will provide updates,” he said.
Aurora University officials said they are investigating if there is a connection between the flooding and the new sports complex.
The university’s campus in Aurora had its own problems due to the heavy rain earlier this month, officials said.
“We are sympathetic to everyone who experienced flooding in this last rain. We experienced water in a lot of our university basements and it was during our Homecoming weekend. We are very familiar with that rain,” Aurora University President Rebecca Sherrick said in a telephone interview.
“We are very concerned that people feel we made their situation worse. I reached out immediately to the village of Montgomery,” Sherrick said.
Sherrick said the university first has to find out if the athletic park impacted people’s properties. She said the university has called on engineers to investigate and determine that.
“We do not know if the university’s park contributed to the water in people’s basements. We don’t know the answer to that. We know that people fear that might have happened. The first step in this process is to get the engineering firms all engaged in looking into this situation. That is where we are,” she said.
Sherrick said all of the plans and drawings for the park were approved by the village. Even so, the university fully intends to have engineers review all of those plans, she said.
“It will involve a collaborative process. Citizens have said this is something we are worried about. The university will work alongside the village and its engineers with our own engineering teams. I am sure there will be an investigation,” she said.
“The question is did the athletic park make it worse for people? It will take time to answer that question. I think it will be a complicated answer. It will take a lot of engineers working together to figure that out,” Sherrick said.
She noted that designing and building the complex was a collaborative process that involved Montgomery and the city of Aurora.
“We followed all of that process correctly. Now we have a question because of this record rainfall. We will work together to answer the question,” she said. “That was a massive amount of rain that fell in a short period of time. We know that people all over the area had water in their basements. The university had water in its basements. That water came hard and fast.
“It makes sense for all of us to work together to answer the question of whether the park in some way made things worse for people downstream. We are concerned for people and we will all work together to get to the right answer. That’s the best we can do — let’s answer the question and figure it out,” Sherrick said.
Trustee Denny Lee said residents need to make sure to contact Montgomery’s Public Works Department and let them know what problems they are having.
“If you have flooding make us aware, it is very important that we know if your sump pump is working and can’t keep up, is the water coming through the window wells or the foundation,” he said.
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Judy Pochel is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News. Freelance reporter Linda Girardi contributed to this story.