By KEVIN NEVERS

There’s no infrastructure in the world—no affordable infrastructure in the world—which can handle a foot of rain in 36 hours.

But improvements made to the Town of Chesterton’s stormwater system since 1992 went a long way to keeping the west side of town afloat, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told the Town Council at its meeting Monday night.

Peterson Ditch, 23rd Street, 21st Street, Wabash Ave., and Lincoln Ave.: “We would have been in a lot worse shape if these projects hadn’t been done,” Schnadenberg said. “I was really surprised everything worked as well as it did.”

Still, Schnadenberg noted, “there’s no system you can build that will handle that kind of flood.”

Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th, concurred. Chesterton “fared very, very well,” particularly in comparison, say, to Munster, where DeLaney’s sister “lost everything, everything.”

“It was a rain of biblical proportions,” DeLaney said. “I can’t say enough about the residents and town employees.”

Claims

Two residents not quite as sanguine about the impact of the flood—both of them residents of the 400 block of South 12th Street, where an alley overflowed—were Warren Martinez and Steve Green. They wanted to know when exactly the bureaucracy of recovery was going to start grinding for them. “My insurance isn’t covering anything,” Martinez said.

Have you filed a Flood Damage Questionnaire with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? Clerk-Treasurer Gayle Polakowski asked?

Martinez said yes.

Have you filed a tort claim?

Yes.

“Then the adjusters will be getting back to you,” Polakowski said. She added that the DHS form is not itself an application for assistance, and that Gov. Mitch Daniels’ is still working on a formal request for federal aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a declaration of disaster from the Bush Administration.

“Right now they’re trying to save the banking system,” remarked President Jim Ton, R-1st.

Furniture Pickup

One thing which the town can do for residents right now, and has been doing since last week, is a special collection of flood-damaged furniture and carpeting. Schnadenberg said that Able Disposal is not really equipped for that kind of pickup, so the Street Department has been undertaking the task instead. “We’re not prepared for it but it’s a little something we can do.”

So far multiple dump trucks have been filled with items, and Schnadenberg expects the collection to continue through the week. But residents must call the Street Department at 926-2222 specifically to arrange a pickup.

The Utility Debriefs

Meanwhile, Utility Superintendent Steve Yagelski had a few observations in the wake of the flooding.

First, in response to a story in Sunday’s edition of the Post-Tribune—which stated that the Utility did not provide information on combined sewage overflows during the event—Yagelski said this: “It’s hard to provide information when you’re not asked for it.”

Yagelski did have some numbers, though. The wastewater treatment plant is designed optimally to pump at a rate of 4.6 million gallons per day (gpd). On the Saturday of the event, it pumped at a rate of 10.5 million gpd; on the Sunday, 11.6 million gpd; on the Monday after, 10.9 million gpd; and on the Tuesday after, 6.4 million gpd.

After the meeting Town Engineer Mark O’Dell told the Chesterton Tribune that between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon the plant bypassed a total of 11.6 million gallons. Then the Little Calumet River began backflowing into the plant, at which point it became difficult to tell where the Utility’s gallonage ended and the river began. Nonetheless, according to the Utility’s meters, over the whole of the event, the plant bypassed a total of 16.5 million gallons.

In addition, Yagelski offered this warning to residents who, he has been informed, were opening sanitary sewer manholes and releasing stormwater into them: Don’t do it. Not only are you violating Town Code, you’re putting yourself at significant risk of major injury, since those sanitary manholes can be under tremendous pressure during a rain event.

Finally, Yagelski advised the council that the flooding caused at least five sinkholes to develop in town. Two, possibly three, of them, are on private property, probably caused when the groundwater collapsed sanitary laterals. One very large one, however, has emerged on 14th Street and another on Woodlawn Ave.

Kudos

Earlier in the meeting, former Chesterton resident Cliff Fleming took a moment from the floor to express his admiration of the town’s staff and employees for their work during the flood. “You’ve got a town full of people here for the love of the community and not the paycheck,” he said.

Fleming also praised the community-mindedness of R.V. Sutton Inc., which at a moment’s notice—as it’s done in the past—provided manpower and man-hours during a municipal emergency. “We owe the Sutton family one hell of a big thanks,” he said. “They’ve gone an extra two miles for the benefit of the town.”

Posted 9/23/2008