City Ponders Stormwater

By ERIC X. VICCARO

eviccaro@stegenherald.com

The Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen continue listening to concerns regarding stormwater issues in the community.

This issue continues to be on the front burner, especially in light of heavy rains from Sunday’s severe thunderstorms. Tornado sirens blared for an hour throughout the city. Rain fell for a roughly three-hour period.

Stormwater talks will continue during a special work session on Thursday, Oct. 28, immediately following the regular board of aldermen meeting.

At a recent meeting, three Ste. Genevieve residents spoke on behalf of stormwater concerns, chiefly water flow, along Market Street and South Gabouri Street.

Ste. Genevieve County Collector Claudia Stuppy, who lives in that part of town, Ron Klein and Rich Figge all talked about stormwater during the public comment portion of the last board of aldermen session on Oct. 14.

Some homes reportedly received flood damage from a historic rain on Aug. 23, in which more than four inches of rain fell during a 45-minute period.

Stuppy asked what the city was going to do in both the short- and long-term, including asking for a possible study.

Possible solutions include raising Market Street and additional work on culverts along the South Gabouri Creek.

City administrator Happy Welch said the city may potentially look at another engineering study of the entire watershed.

Welch said ultimately the ball is in the board of aldermen’s court on how to ameliorate stormwater run-off. 

Klein requested the city seek a professional group to examine water flow. 

Figge asked about the source of the run-off since it seems heavy rain is increasingly becoming a problem in Ste. Genevieve — calling the stormwater matter “a safety issue.”

Talks on flooding at the Shuh and Sons property were scrapped during the previous work session because Steve Shuh and Terry Bergtholdt were unable to attend.