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Mayor: Deer Creek mitigation held during intense Nov. 5 storm; city credits crews for response
Summary
Brentwood officials said the Deer Creek flood-mitigation project performed as designed during an intense Nov. 4–5 storm; city leaders credited parks, public works, police and fire for response and cleanup and reported no overtopping of Deer Creek into the project-area stretch of Manchester Road.
The mayor told the Brentwood Board of Aldermen on Nov. 18 that the city's Deer Creek flood-mitigation project, which was designed to address a 100-year rain event, held up during an unusually large storm in the early hours of Nov. 5. "It was designed to address only a 100 year rain event," the mayor said, adding that officials "believe" the storm was "at least a 500 year rain event." He said Deer Creek did not overtop its banks or send water onto Manchester Road within the project area.
The mayor credited municipal crews for rapid cleanup and response. "Thanks to our parks department, our public works department, our police department and our fire department," he said, noting staff had long hours responding the night of Nov. 4 and throughout Nov. 5. The mayor described the fire department's first weather-related call at 1:27 a.m. on Nov. 5, a house fire in Glendale caused by lightning; on the return route the department ran a flooding call at 2:33 a.m. on Hanley Road. He said the department recorded "just over 20 calls" during the event and that many were water rescues, but there were "no water rescues on Manchester Road in the project area."
The mayor said the mitigation project has reduced property damage and shifted emergency responses away from Manchester Road to other parts of Brentwood and neighboring communities. He also acknowledged brief road closures during the event, including Manchester Road near Hanley and other locations, and a spot of pooling near Dorothy and Manchester.
The mayor framed the storm as a test of the mitigation measures: "By any definition ... the flood mitigation worked exactly as designed and actually ended up handling an even larger rain event than designed." The city did not announce new policy actions at the meeting but thanked staff and noted the park cleanup made flood impacts less visible within days.
The mayor's remarks were delivered at the start of the Nov. 18 meeting; no citywide emergency declaration or follow-up vote was taken at that session. The board did not take formal action on flood response during the meeting.
