St. Louis flash flooding worsened by litter, debris

ST. LOUIS – Debris and litter are being blamed for some of the flash flooding around St. Louis on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) says no sewer system can handle the type of weather St. Louis has had this week.

"We had a 500-year rain event on Sunday and then what looks like off our prelim data to be a 100-year rain event again yesterday afternoon," Sean Stone, MSD Project Clear, said.

Several streets and intersections were under water late Tuesday afternoon as heavy rain slammed the area. Cars were at a standstill on eastbound Interstate 70 as MoDOT crews worked to clear a clogged drain. MSD said a few of their inlets were also blocked by debris and trash.

"It's all pretty lightweight. When the water comes up, it carries it towards those inlets, carries it in, and if enough of that stuff gets in there, it absolutely won't work as designed," Stone said.

St. Louis Alderman Rasheen Aldridge said some residents in Ward 14 experienced water damage. Aldridge wants to see the debris cleaned up.

"It's not their fault that people are littering, but sometimes in government, we have to do things that wasn't in our control to make sure that infrastructure is still as strong as possible," he said.

MoDOT says its crews have spent 2,800 hours in the past 30 days keeping shoulders and drains clear from debris. MSD also has a plan to address this problem and Stone said they’ve made significant progress in recent years.

"We have an inspection and cleaning schedule for all of the inlets in the service area, that we're checking them constantly and at regular intervals,” he said. “We're trying to get that stuff out before we can.”

MSD will now go and inspect any area where flooding was reported on Tuesday to ensure there are still not any underlying issues that need to be addressed.