ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Residents in a St. Charles neighborhood say a million-dollar flood basin built in 2021 is beginning to fail, and the city isn’t doing enough to address the problem.
The basin, located in the Schaefer Place neighborhood, is supposed to hold approximately three million gallons of water, keeping it from people’s homes.
“The biggest problem is that this basin needs to be fixed, maintained, and improved upon. Currently, the basin has flooded two times in the last two years. The last time causing over six feet of flooding in some properties,” resident Claire Schueler said.
Residents say vegetation is growing in the basin and some of the building blocks are coming apart. They say city hall is not moving fast enough to fix things.
”It’s the city’s responsibility to fix this. Not just to beautify this city, but also so that the homes of the residents remain safe and dry,” Schueler said.
St. Charles Director of Engineering Dan Mann admits there are problems with the basin. He says it’ll cost about $600,000 to fix.
“So, the good news is the basin is functional. We’re going to get the construction going this summer (and) we’re going to have it completed by the fall,” he said. “We’re working thru the FEMA process.”
Mann blames the damage on the big flood this past January
“The basin’s still functioning. It’s kind of like a bathtub, so the bath tub fills up, it drains okay, but there’s kind of a crack in the top of it,” he said.