EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — "Water has not receded very much since yesterday evening and that's concerning," East St. Louis City Manager Robert Betts said.
Betts was out on Belmont Avenue Tuesday night when the flooding started, Wednesday morning when it was at its peak and again Wednesday afternoon.
The city manager spoke with frustrated and worried residents. Terry Barnes has lived on Belmont for over 30 years.
"We're just frustrated," Barnes said. "It's time for East St. Louis to step up and do something. I know they have the money but they need to use it where things need to be done and as you can see, it needs to be done in this area right here. We always get hit the hardest. If you go around the city, all the water probably ceased away except for this area right here."
Betts said the city spent $6 million on surface water issues last year and is on track to spend another $6 million this year.
"It still doesn't cover what we need. We probably need $300-million to cover immediate flooding concerns," he said.
East St. Louis sits in a low area close to the Mississippi river. Storm runoff has to be carried to the river by pumps and pipes or absorbed into the ground. With several inches of rain recently, the pipes are overwhelmed and the soil is too saturated.
There is no quick fix that will dry out yards and basements before the next round of rain hits. Betts said the first step is investigation: "Well, the first thing would be to get a sewer televising company on board to get the lines cleaned out, get a camera down in the lines, find out what is going on, see if there is a blockage or something, make sure these lines are jetted and clean and go from there. That will tell us what we need to do."
If the problem is a blockage, then a clean out should help. If not, the city may have to make some difficult decisions.
"Do we maybe put this area in a potential buyout area with the Department of Natural Resources," explained Betts, "or do we look for other ways to fix this problem? We could look at maybe doing a water retention system, maybe a water storage area, if you will."