MITCHELL – Local business owners and Mitchell residents took their frustrations about flooding to the Mitchell City Council on Monday and criticized the city's infrastructure response during recent storms.
A two-day, record-breaking storm on June 20-21 dumped 7.7 inches of rain on Mitchell, wreaking havoc on TK Electric and leaving a foot of standing water inside the longtime Mitchell business.
TK Electric owner Phil Lee criticized the city's drainage system during a city council public consultation.
“I'm a little disappointed with the infrastructure in my neighborhood. We had 12 inches of water all over our property,” Lee said. “To say it went better than we expected would be a lie.”
TK Electric is located in an area that has had a history of drainage problems. Nearby businesses on East Hackberry Avenue, including Clock Works and Patzer Woodworking, were damaged in a storm in late June. Lee was the only business owner to speak about flooding on Monday.
Adam Saleh / Mitchell Republic
Five years ago, a historic three-day storm that drenched Mitchell with more than eight inches of rain caused extensive flooding damage in the same shopping district along East Hackberry and Juniper avenues.
Following the 2019 floods, the city completed a drainage project aimed at improving the drainage system in hard-hit areas.
Sam Fosnes / Republic
Lee said he canceled his flood insurance after the East Central Drainage Project was completed several years ago.
“I don't have flood insurance because I was told it would never happen again,” Lee said. “I don't know if there's too much water coming into our area.”
Mitchell resident Bruce Treville, who lives along the Dry Run Creek bike path, called on city leaders to develop a plan to mitigate frequent flooding in Dry Run Creek during heavy rains.
Dry Run Creek is the main artery for handling storm water runoff in the south central part of the city. During the June 20-21 storm that flooded Mitchell, Dry Run Creek overflowed with water, causing extensive flooding at several homes near the low-lying creek.
Treville expressed concern about the capacity of Dry Run Creek.
“Years ago, before the box plant and the Pepsi plant, it was a cornfield. Now it's roads, curbs and gutters. All of that water goes into Dry Run. When they renovated Sanborn, they said they were going to put in a new pipe that would go into Dry Run Creek. I said that's not going to work,” Treville said. “Putting water down there isn't going to do anything to the creek.”
After the 2019 floods, the city hired an engineer to evaluate the feasibility of widening Dry Run Creek to increase storm water capacity. After the 2019 evaluation, the engineer determined that widening the creek was not necessary.
Despite the assessment concluding that widening the creek was not necessary, city Public Works Director Joe Schroeder said the city performed maintenance several years ago to desilt Dry Run Creek and improve the drainage area.
Adam Saleh / Mitchell Republic
Sam Fosness joined The Mitchell Republic in May 2018. He grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota and graduated from Mitchell High School. He continued his education at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, graduating in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in English. During college, Fosness worked as a news and sports reporter for The Volante newspaper.
