An Innovative and Multi Faceted Approach to Reducing Urban Flooding

Urban flooding is an issue faced by many major cities around the country. Due to the fully developed nature of older cities such as The City of Minneapolis (City), Minnesota, finding solutions to these flooding problems is not an easy task. Flooding became a prominent topic of discussion in 1997 during a particularly wet month of July. Consecutive severe rainstorms, the first of which was close to a 200-year rainfall event, caused widespread flooding resulting in significant economic impact to the city. Subsequently, the City developed a report. Flood '97, using complaint reports by residents, field inspections, and preliminary hydraulic and hydrologic analysis, which led to the Flood Mitigation Program for the City. Flood Area 27 (FA 27), which is a residential neighborhood approximately 4 miles southeast of the city center is one of the several watersheds identified in the Flood '97 report. Following is a brief discussion of the development of a Flood Mitigation Project in FA 27.