The City of Flagstaff and Coconino County are making long-term plans for handling stormwater in the neighborhoods below the Museum Fire scar, which were inundated with floods this summer. KNAU's Melissa Sevigny reports, so far there's no funding to implement the planned solutions.
The neighborhoods in what’s known as the Spruce Avenue watershed will need new and expanded culverts, storm drains, and washes to handle floods coming off the fire scar.
One plan is to build a detention basin at the site of the now-abandoned Killip School, at an estimated cost of four to five million dollars. Andy Bertelsen of the City of Flagstaff describes the basin as a parklike area which would gather stormwater when needed and slowly release it downstream.
"It’s a very difficult challenge we’re up against…. but we’re going to keep swinging, we’re going to keep doing everything we can to attempt to convey water safely through our community," Bertelsen says.
The city and county are also in discussions with the Forest Service about what can be done to hold back sediment from the burned slopes.
But Lucinda Andreani of Coconino County says there is no funding yet to address these infrastructure needs. "It’s really premature to answer what level of mitigation can be implemented. We will not be able to implement mitigation that mitigates flooding from all flood events, all rainfall events," she says.
The county has applied for a couple of federal grants. In the meantime, officials ask residents in the affected areas to leave their sandbags in place.
For more information, visit the City and County's Museum Fire flood website.
