Philadelphia\u2019s century-old sewer and stormwater system is buckling under increased rainfall, leaving homeowners across the city with flooded basements and fraying patience as they wait for fixes from the water department.<\/p>\n
The city has roughly 72,000 stormwater inlets, about one for every 20 residents. But ordinary debris like leaves, dirt and trash can clog them, and some have been sealed shut by repaving projects that raised street levels above the curb-built drains, the Philadelphia Water Department said. After 16 consecutive months of below-normal precipitation, regular rain returned in July and August and brought flooding with it.<\/p>\n
Sealed drains, rising water in West Mount Airy<\/p>\n
In West Mount Airy, Arielle Wolfson, 37, said roads near her home \u201cbecome a river\u201d during storms. She and her wife, Kelsey Hensley, live at the bottom of a hill near the intersection of Mount Pleasant Avenue and Cresheim Road, where five stormwater inlets are supposed to keep rainfall from rushing downhill. For years, only one has been fully functioning, Wolfson said. City repaving projects had effectively sealed the others.<\/p>\n
When ankle-deep water slopes into an alleyway connecting Wolfson\u2019s home and nearly 30 others, it often floods her basement. Hensley said their routine storm calculation is simple: \u201cDo we go out with some friends, or do we stay home to monitor the basement?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wolfson said she discovered earlier this month that asphalt had finally been removed from three of the closed inlets, plus others further up Cresheim Road. But she and Hensley said they wish the city would communicate timelines instead of offering silence or ambiguity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s expensive, and it\u2019s just frustrating because, in my mind, this is a pretty easily solvable issue,\u201d Wolfson said.<\/p>\n
Backwater valve delays in Fairmount<\/p>\n
Clogged inlets are only part of the problem. Mary Catherine Doyle, 56, and more than 10 of her neighbors along the 2900 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Fairmount experienced significant basement flooding after storms on July 5. Rainfall, debris and sewage destroyed Doyle\u2019s home office, bathroom and furniture, she said.<\/p>\n