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Residents and experts press council for engineering review, dredging and staffing to fix drainage
Summary
Residents, engineers and conservation officials urged immediate dredging and ditch clearing, a maintenance audit of canals and a regional engineering response; speakers suggested seeking state or FEMA support to mobilize heavy equipment.
Multiple speakers called on the council to commission an independent engineering review of drainage, to dredge canals and to increase stormwater maintenance capacity.
One public commenter who said he had worked on similar post-storm responses urged the city to "go to the governor's office" or FEMA to secure equipment for dredging canals and clearing ditches. Another resident described digging three feet behind a yard and finding subsurface water pushing through the soil, arguing that foundations were at risk and that the city needed places to store or convey excess runoff rather than letting it flow into neighborhoods.
Residents and local business owners also suggested short-term operational fixes — hiring day laborers for ditch clearing, prioritizing maintenance in the most flood-prone blocks, and adding staff for stormwater — while pursuing longer-term engineering solutions and intergovernmental coordination.
