Flooding: DuPage County Invites Residents to Weigh In

Jenn Fondel lives right on the DuPage River in Glen Ellyn. That river-front property is lovely, but if there is a lot of rain in a short amount of time, it can cause flooding problems. Fondel attended the DuPage County Stormwater Management workshop on March 9 at the Glen Ellyn library.

“I was surprised to hear that people in such outlying areas have such issues with flooding,” she said.

Sarah Hunn, chief engineer for DuPage County Stormwater Management said that kind of education was part of the purpose of the local events.

“What we really want to know is where the localized issues are and what ideas residents might have that we had not thought of as possible solutions,” she said.

The workshops were held in three locations - Downers Grove, Glen Ellyn and Lisle. Of the three, Lisle has had the most dramatic recent flooding.

“In the April 2013 (rain) event, the Lisle area was hit very hard,” Hunn said.

The reason for flooding in DuPage County is two-fold. The first reason is growing population and the second is growing rainfall.

“In 1960, 300,000 people lived in the county,” Hunn said. “In 1990, there were over 900,000.

“It’s taking an area that would have been perfect for farming and making it into a suburban community. It’s a lot of things that have all come together - now we’re getting more rainfall in the last five years than we have seen in a long time.”

In Glen Ellyn and Wheaton flooding problems are more localized which does not make them any less important. The largest one in Wheaton is north of Roosevelt Road off of President. The largest in Glen Ellyn is near the intersection of Forest and Linden.

“We have pretty flat topography then we have a series of small depressions,” Hunn said.

Bonnie Gahris, of Glen Ellyn notes the area of Lenox Road between Hawthorn and Essex.

“We do have serious flooding problems there,” she said of Lake Ellyn Park and its surrounding area.

Kathy Cornell, of Glen Ellyn was glad to just be heard.

“There was a lot of listening that folks in the county did,” she said. “I don’t think anyone here was shy.

“We got to learn a little bit about what the county is doing to help individuals.”

In addition to large-scale improvements, county staff discussed things individual homeowners could do - such as native plantings that help absorb water - on a smaller scale.

More information about DuPage County Stormwater Management can be found here.