Earth In Crisis: When The Rains Come Fast And Fierce

Flood Prevention Through Park Hill Requires More Than Just Bigger Pipes; Green Spaces Are Also Critical

By Tracey MacDermott

For the GPHN

This summer, we witnessed severe weather events around the globe. Heavy rains brought flooding in the Northeast, 10 inches of rain fell in Nova Scotia, flooding led to many deaths in India. Last month thousands of people died, and thousands more still missing, after heavy rains led to the collapse of two dams in Derna, Libya, washing entire neighborhoods out to sea.

Closer to home, just 70 miles away Colorado Springs was hit with its largest two-day rainfall in the city’s history. The unusual amount of rainfall has pushed the city to adjust their flood mitigation efforts.

We should all expect to make these adjustments as the climate and storm events become more unpredictable.

Some of you may recall that more than eight years ago, in June 2015, South Park Hill experienced several severe storms resulting in destructive flooding. Cars were totaled, landscaping was washed away and homes were seriously damaged. We reported on much of the damage — and many of us began our education on flooding and stormwater management.

During community meetings, the consensus was that we must understand what led to this severe flooding and how we can work together to fix it. Residents met with council and other city representatives.

We learned a fascinating reality that many of us had not previously known: When South Park Hill was first developed decades ago, homes and streets were actually built over natural water channels. Over time, the loss of permeable land through structures and addition of concrete has further contributed to a higher risk of flooding in the area. When the rains come fast and fierce, the streams still form and gush their natural paths through the neighborhood.

At the time there was a lot of talk that the fix was, we just need to install bigger pipes.

Park Hill’s Brian Hyde, an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration and a longtime contributor to the newspaper, reported back in 2015 that those June storms were not an anomaly. Instead, they are a well-documented pattern.

Hyde knew then, and now, that we needed more than just bigger pipes. His proposal — to restore natural waterways through Park Hill — were considered fairly radical, and certainly not cheap. That’s because “daylighting” those waterways would also require removing homes and other structures, many of them built decades ago.

In early 2017, the Montclair Vision Implementation team, of which I was a part, convened to provide recommendations on stormwater and drainage problems. A November 2019 report included several recommendations, from incorporating green infrastructure along 16th and Colfax avenues, adding green space to the Mayfair Town Center and making flood prevention improvements to public streets and private properties.

Since then, the city’s Platte to Park Hill drainage project has been completed, including the reconfiguration of the City Park Golf Course. Part 1 of the East 16th Avenue Storm Interceptor project was completed last September, including a new storm main line that transports flows to City Park.

These projects may have left many thinking any future severe flooding in South Park Hill is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it’s not. Phase 2 has not yet started yet, and and this is the part of the project that can help with some of our flooding. Just last August a torrential rainstorm swept through. Once again, 16th Avenue became a river. I moved my car off the street and held out hope that the flooding would not damage homes.

The good news is that the city is expecting to begin Phase 2 late next year or in early 2025. I’m grateful that the stormwater mitigation will begin relatively soon, but it has been many years of stress for residents — especially when a big storm comes in.

And, though there was much hope that the projects would include aesthetic improvements (landscaping, trees, etc.), at this time it does not appear any green space beautification is being considered.

I hope that Denver takes a lesson from Colorado Springs and adjusts our plans. In just eight years, Mother Earth’s rules have changed. The climate crisis has upended our world and we need to pivot to our new normal of unpredictable.

Tracey MacDermott is an at-large member of the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., and immediate past chair. She was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017, and is currently the Statewide Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Project for the 100% Committed Campaign. She can be reached at traceymacdermott@gmail.com.