Will the Emergency Operations Center evaluate their perfomance during the flood?

Yes. The Emergency Operations Center has a process that includes a post incident review. The flood of 2008 was the LARGEST emergency that has ever occurred in Columbus. Over 30 agencies were involved in providing services to our community. The post incident review will begin once the work of the EOC is completed, and will cover many topics. It will provide information on what went well, where changes need to be made, where things can be improved, and perhaps equipment and personnel that should be in place to protect us in the future.

The EOC is made up of almost every department in the city... Dan Jansen - Public Works, Dennis Weiner - Police, Mark Kenevan and Linda Damm - Fire, Anne Donahue - City Administration, Peggy - Library & Public Information Officer, Patti - Heartline Medix, John - Water & Light and myself. In addition to the Columbus EOC, we will be seeking and giving feedback to Columbia County, Dodge County and perhaps Beaver Dam. We worked closely with all of these agencies during the flood, and they will have valuable information for us.

If you have any specific questions that you would like addressed in the report, please send them to me or to any of the EOC members by the end of July.

Thanks!

How big are the storm sewers in the city? Why didn't they keep the streets from flooding?

I asked our Public Works Director, Dan Jensen what size storm can our storm sewers handle, and he told me that the construction standard is to size for a 10 year flood. Sizing for a 100 year flood would require at least 10 times larger stormwater pipes, and this is cost prohibitive. Remember that the recent flooding was 3 feet over the 100 year flood stage, and 2 feet over the previous record for Columbus. This was an extraordinary event.

You can take some precautions to help prevent or reduce flooding in your home.

• Make sure that you have a check valve in your basement to allow water to exit the drain but not come back in.
• All sump pumps must be set up so that water goes into the storm water system or onto your yard. Sump pumps that are attached to the sanitary sewer are illegal and overtax the sanitary sewer system during heavy rains resulting in sewage back up.
• Landscape your yard to move water away from your basement to reduce the amount of seepage that you get.