Flooding that has been a regular occurrence in downtown Greeley for decades is on the cusp of being fixed, as city officials pitch a $135 million plan they say should lessen the threat for even the heaviest rains.
Eric Weis, stormwater division manager for Greeley, presented the plan to the Greeley City Council on Tuesday, saying it built on numerous stormwater studies in the past two decades. The plan won’t get final approval until early next year.
To get to a solution, Weis first demonstrated the problem:
» 1965 — Flooding along the South Platte River occurred after continuous rain.
» 1983 — Again, flooding along the South Platte impacted Greeley and surrounding areas.
» 2001 — Greeley experienced its largest thunderstorm on record, causing downtown flooding.
» 2008 — City dealt with a 50- to 100-year storm that damaged City Hall, among other buildings.
» May 8, 2017 — Another 50- to 100-year storm damaged numerous downtown buildings.
Rainfall causes flooding, and the No. 3 ditch, which runs through Greeley and often overtops its banks, makes that flooding unpredictable. Further, the city’s downtown development made it difficult for that water to drain, and there hasn’t been the corresponding capacity increases for drainage.
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