Comments on: Another flood leaves behind misery, questions

By: bth

bth — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:49:47 +0000

outlander – yes, that is part of the idea. But a whole lot more are needed.

The problem with the calfskin is two-fold. There has been a lot of development along the North Fork without sufficient storage and also Dry Creek can breach its basin into the North Fork. Many of the “retention ponds” in the developments are kept full. That makes them useless for flood control. They know that. Chris Carrier knows that. But, as noted, nothing gets done.

Until, of course, the residents sue.

By: outlander

outlander — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:14:23 +0000

Ben: I notice that the Calfskin flows through such a large park off of 119th. That park was completely filled in the last rain. I don’t know if that one is part of a system like you have in mind.

By: bth

bth — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:58:06 +0000

Yes
No

By: TomPaine

TomPaine — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:01:06 +0000

wasnt flooding a big topic of the last city election? Since the election has their been one resolution passed to do anything?

By: XXX

XXX — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:13:28 +0000

outlander
Posted September 16, 2008 at 7:45 am | Permalink
Next come the questions about whether leaders could or should have done more since 1998 to prevent such flooding.
_________________________________________________
Nah, let’s get past that boring stuff and get right to blaming the victim.

By: newsletter

newsletter — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:23:05 +0000

bth = older than dirt…

bth was here when the ark river carved out the valley and saw the flooding here 10,000 years ago…

By: bth

bth — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:54:48 +0000

YEP! My how time flies when you’re having fun!

By: Regular

Regular — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:51:19 +0000

bth
Posted September 16, 2008 at 9:42 am | Permalink

I have been following the flooding problem in west Wichita for about 2000 years (based on flood frequency/occurrance).
———————————–
Damn!

You’re a lot older than I thought!

By: bth

bth — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:42:30 +0000

I have been following the flooding problem in west Wichita for about 2000 years (based on flood frequency/occurrance). I am struck by how much the City (and County) has actually made things WORSE. The practice of channelizing (’drainage improvements’) simply transfer the problem downstream. Two old neighborhoods – the Dell and Hidden Lakes – did not flood in the past in the way they do today. This is a direct consequence of all those ‘improvements’ upstream – both in the calfskin and now the Dry creek basins.

The speed with which the water both rose and fell in the Calfskin is indicative of a paved channel rather than a natural stream. In a stream with natural buffers water is stored (’detained’) in the basin and drains more slowly. This results in a lower peak flow and less flooding. However, with all the pavement and channelizing the water is ’shot downstream’ causing the kins of flooding we see today.

KDOT has a proposal for Kellogg in Goddard which will make the Dry Creek situation even worse with increased runoff. Residents downstream should be examining their proposal carefully.

There are ways to alleviate this flooding. The geomorphological approach is to mimic nature – establish detention/retention basins all along the drainages. These can be used as parks etc but can then be inundated when it rains with minimal disruption or damage. Then the water can either drain out at a manageable rate if percolate into the aquifer (”I’m thinking giant retractable roof draining into the aquifer.”)

However, as long as we follow the Corps of Engineers type philosophy of believing we can control nature this will not be done.

By: newsletter

newsletter — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:36:44 +0000

There are hundreds of things that could have been done to mitigate the damage… Wichita choose not to do anything about it. Oh and when the federal government tried to do something about it (redrawing the flood boundaries), what happened? The city and citizens went to court to stop them…

By: outlander

outlander — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:45:26 +0000

Next come the questions about whether leaders could or should have done more since 1998 to prevent such flooding.

————-

I’m thinking giant retractable roof draining into the aquifer.

By: Raptor

Raptor — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:14:28 +0000

the thing that sticks with me is the number of idiots who drove around barricades just to wind up stalling their cars. They can see other cars stuck..and yet they do it anyway. It cost one man his life….

By: Political_mama

Political_mama — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:32:27 +0000

Obviously.

By: Regular

Regular — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:31:47 +0000

God bless Dennis and his family. Prayers for them in this time of grieving and personal loss.

By: swallow_my_nickel

swallow_my_nickel — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:28:35 +0000

And what exactly do you think should have been done, Rhonda? If there is 10 inches of rain in a short period, it’s going to flood somewhere, no matter what we do.