News Story

Five years ago today, Des Moines experienced severe flash flooding as thunderstorms dropping heavy rain stalled over the City. Since that night, the City has spent over $60 million on major stormwater projects to increase the capacity and resiliency of the stormwater system throughout Des Moines.

That night five years ago, vehicles were swept away, homes were damaged and one resident lost their life when eight inches of rain overwhelmed creeks and streams in northern Polk County.

"The flood response had showed us exactly where there were problems in our storm sewer system," said Gano. "In the aftermath, City Council had asked City staff to accelerate stormwater infrastructure improvements and that’s been a key focus for our department over the past five years. We're working to make sure our infrastructure can withstand high intensity rain better with each project we complete."

In addition to resident assistance and cleanup, the City held a meeting to create an after-action flood report. This resulted in the recommendation of City-wide stormwater master planning going forward to address shortfalls in the stormwater system.

A consultant was hired to help support development of the Stormwater Master Plan which is being finalized with extensive inspection, repair and replacement programs.

"Stormwater is something that most people don't think about until it's actually impacting them," said Clean Water Administrator Patrick Beane, "City Council and staff wants to make sure that we are minimizing the chances of that happening in the future by completing these projects in a timely manner."

The City has spent $38 million on stormwater improvements in the Closes Creek watershed and in the Highland Park neighborhood with the Hamilton Drain project. Another $10 million is planned for the remaining phases of each project.

Since 2018, the City has also spent $12.7 million on property buyouts, primarily on homes in the Fourmile Creek watershed, to reduce the risk of flood damage to residents.

City Council has approved $8 million for stormwater improvements in the five-year Capital Improvements Program to start, but Beane says more will be needed.

"We're doing our very best to understand the more frequent, intense rainstorms that are coming and working on figuring out how to mitigate that when it happens to reduce impacts in the future," Beane said.

Residents who would like to be a part of the planning process by joining the Stormwater Advisory Committee can email the Clean Water team at stormwater@dmgov.org, or call 515-323-8165.

To learn more about programs and incentives for stormwater management, visit DSM.city/Stormwater.