Albany Public Works handles water overflow concerns (VIDEO)

ALBANY —Aprils showers have been more like deluges this year, with the monthly rain total nearing 11 inches and eclipsing the month’s average by more than half a foot. As a result, residents in some low-lying areas are at risk for localized flooding.

Phil Roberson and his team at the Albany Public Works Department are charged with doing all they can to keep the city’s homes and businesses dry through these unusually wet days. According to Roberson, that can sometimes be a challenge.

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“When I started working for the city in 1974, we had 200 miles of dirt streets,” Robeson said. “We had a lot of muddy roads, but the water soaked in. When you pave parking lots and build buildings, you create a situation where the water will run directly to the storm drain system. When the (system) isn’t large enough, that’s when you can have issues.”

According to Roberson, while all municipalities employ similar systems and equipment for stormwater management, which may include networks of ponds, canals and ditches, Albany’s relatively flat terrain presents an added challenge that is not faced in cities further north.

The basic problem, Roberson said, is that the numerous stormwater ponds around the city, which designed to receive rainfall overflow, are nearing their capacities. Water has to be transferred to other areas somehow. Since water naturally seeks lower areas, natural hills can be a help.

“When you’re in a hilly area ,the topography allows for the water to run naturally to wherever the receiving stream is,” Roberson said. “If the land is flat, you have to create ways for the water to move.”

Roberson said the numerous stormwater ponds around the city are just one link in the “conveyance system” of water transfer. Most of the ponds are fed from a canal or ditch. The idea is that when the water level reaches that of a “discharge pipe,” it flows through the pipe to the continuation of the water collection system.

“When you have an overabundance of rain, it can overtax the system,” Roberson said. “That’s when you have to put a hose into the pond and pump it from there to the next area.”

A vital consideration, Roberson said, is to be certain the “downstream” systems don’t also become overtaxed.

“We monitor the downstream ditches and canals to make sure we’re not adding water that normally wouldn’t be in there and causing problems downstream, the ditches to fill up and then getting into somebody’s house, the very thing we’re trying to solve on the upstream side,” Roberson said.

Roberson said that sometimes all that water re-routing requires “stringing” pipes through neighborhoods — even occasional back yards — to be sure everyone is high and dry.

Roberson said the greatest challenge to a public works department is to face a combination of rainfall and creek or river flooding. Fortunately the Flint River is expected to stay well below flood stage, officials say. The Flint was well within its banks Thursday afternoon at 9.13 feet, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters expect it to crest Saturday at 14.6 feet, far below the flood stage of 26 feet.

Meanwhile, the wet stuff hasn’t quite abated with the close of April. NWS forecasters set the likelihood of rain today at 40 percent and at 50 percent Friday. After a wet opening for May, sunny skies should start prevailing Saturday.

“The rain we’re getting right now is more of the moderate or light variety,” Roberson said. “We can keep moving it around and everything should be just fine.”