I have noticed many people have commented in person and in print that it is a good thing that the City of Indianapolis denied the zoning variance for the proposed parking garage in Broad Ripple. The reason they give is that just days after the variance for relaxation of the flood ordinance was denied, Broad Ripple was flooded, proving that the garage should not be built.

In fact the May 1st, 2012, event was not a flood that would have been protected by a levee, but was actually a sewer backup. The northside sewer system comes together south of 66th Street. If the sewer capacity is exceeded, the excess passes by an overflow, through the flood gates and dumps into the White River. In this case, the flood gates had apparently been mistakenly shut. Therefore, when the excess sewer water arrived underground in Broad Ripple, it had nowhere to go but up through all of the sewer grates. This caused 6 foot geysers all around the Village, flooding the streets and businesses north of Broad Ripple Avenue.

The flood gates are there to handle the case when an actual flood is coming. When the White River is rising due to flood conditions, the gates can be closed to keep the river from entering the overflow duct and coming up through the street grates.

On May 1 when the short, but heavy rains occurred, the sewer system overflowed and the waters backed up through the sewers of Broad Ripple. This kind of event can happen in any sewer system. It has nothing to do with the levee system. It has nothing to do with the flood ordinances. A sewer backup can, and does, happen from time to time anywhere there is a sewer blockage.

Below is the press release issued by the City of Indianapolis concerning the gates:

The Indianapolis Department of Public Works has conducted an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the closure of the flood gates located in the 6500 block of Westfield Boulevard. On the evening of Tuesday, May 1, as DPW staff members worked to help find the cause of the high water in the Broad Ripple area, they discovered that two flood gates on the storm drain system were closed, preventing rainwater from draining properly to the White River.

DPW workers inspected the flood gates on January 17, 2012 and left the flood gates opened, as required, upon completion of the inspection. However, an internal data management system indicates the locking system was inadvertently left in manual mode rather than electronic operation mode. This permits the flood gates to be opened and closed via an exterior manual wheel. On multiple days in April an unknown person or persons manually opened and closed the flood gates multiple times. The flood gates were last closed on April 17 at 9:58 p.m. and remained closed until May 1.

As a result of this incident, DPW is updating its Standard Operating Procedures to go above and beyond what is required by federal law. DPW will conduct quarterly inspections of all flood gates in Marion County as opposed to the semi-annual inspections required by federal law. The Department also is installing tamper-proof locks to all exterior manual operating systems and retraining employees on the procedures of maintaining and operating flood gate systems.