When my mother lived in Barranquilla Colombia (yes, South America, not the college town in Missouri) I remember her telling me about big rainstorms that would create such powerful surges along the curb that they would knock her to her feet. Imagining a mouthful of untreated sewage made me gag as she told the story. “Just one more reason I would never want to live THERE” I told myself. Disgusting, uncivilized.
But today as I drove from 31st to 47th along Gillham Road, I see a similar problem filling the streets of my hometown. Another rainstorm has overloaded the sewer system and our streets have become temporary streams. Luckily I am driving a friend’s truck as I plow through the standing water. Yeah yeah. Don’t EVER drive through standing water. But here’s the problem: sometimes you can’t tell that it’s standing water until you’re in the middle of it. My friends call me “Captain Safety”, but even I was caught in the middle of streets filled with water from edge to edge. Before I knew it I was earning safety demerits one by one.
While I realize that it is impossible to prevent occasional flash flooding, and certain areas will always be prone to trouble, it seems that this has been happening EVERY time it rains. Also, this part of town is not some underpopulated part of dog patch. This is the center of our city. When the streets are icy I pride myself in knowing alternate routes that provide the flattest surface. Today I was racking my brain to think of a safe path to travel. Everywhere I turned there was more standing, running, or rushing water.
I turned back, called my client and cancelled our appointment. I felt like my home town was slipping in civility just a little. It’s becoming the kind of place in which the weather dictates profit. For the first time in memory, rain kept me away from work.
Tags: flashflood, KansasCity, rainstorm, sewer, stormsewer
