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East Brainerd business owner Dr. Anuj Chandra is calling a town hall-style meeting Thursday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church to discuss the prevention of flood problems in the future.
Brainerd and East Brainerd residents, homeowners, business owners and city officials are invited. Public Works officials and District 6 City Commissioner Dr. Carol Berz will attend the event.
“I think we have to get an idea of what’s causing it, more than just rain,” Berz said. “It seems to get worse the more we put hard surfaces on the ground. ... Hopefully some of that will come out (at the meeting).”
Berz is not the only one who thinks stormwater drainage may be worsening the problem.
Anita Newsom, RN and sleep medicine educator at Chandra’s Advanced Center for Sleep Disorders, located at 6073 E. Brainerd Road, said the office closed for more than a week after heavy rains in September.
Homes along nearby Chickamauga Road, she said, had waist-high water for more than a week.
“I really think it had something to do with the stormwater drainage,” Newsom said. “It was black water that we had in our facility. It wasn’t just rainwater.”
She said she hopes the meeting will explore steps the city could take with public land to better control flooding.
“Was there something that they could have done to prevent this?” Newsom asked. “Is there something they could do in the future?”
Berz said the city may be able to lessen the impact of flooding by building things like a rain garden next to the Brainerd Levee or driveways with permeable surfaces so the rain can soak into the ground.
Berz and Newsom said property in the city’s 100-year flood plain is flooding closer to every 10 years. The area last flooded, Newsom said, in 2003. Newsom said she hopes the meeting will begin to generate answers for residents, homeowners and business owners before the next flood hits.
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