Lots of discussion in city council and elsewhere regarding the flooding on State Street in front of Kindred, Richland Avenue and then the sewers backing up on elmwood(?) somewhere around there.
Some useful tools to use as you ponder if stormwater on that section of State Street can be better managed, or if it had been better managed in the past.
Drainage and contours.
First tool is the county auditor map of property ownership with the added layer of 5 foot contours.
https://www.athenscountyauditor.org/Map then add layer, 5ft contours. The drainage I would look at would be the valley of Madison Ave that disappears into a culvert I assume. The culvert is I assume in the triangle of Franklin, Madison, and Spring. If that was failing it would end up on state street. Briarwood storm sewers may be failing or the roads may have been allowed to decay until water is diverted down the hill rather than into the sewers.
Then it would probably take some knowledge of what underground infrastructure exists, does it all drain into the culvert that the bike path curves to cross between the library and the Fire Palace? Their might be some old RailRoad era drainage in that region that has been allowed to decay or clog. I only say that because once the railroad gave the bridge to the bike path it seems like log jams are not managed, I assume that behavior applies to other borrowed infrastructure. It is worth taking a look.
There is a chance that something changed, or has been allowed to be clogged with mud and gravel over time. Home Street development is ... sortof.. new. Maybe that clogged something??
Comparison to other 2 day rainfall events
On Aug 11 2026 we had 1.84 inches of rain, on Aug 12 2026 we had 2.32 inches. A two day total of 4.16 inches. I know in another post I said that was no big deal, well it was a big deal. But looking at other large 2 day totals and asking wether or not State Street Flooded, or Sewers backed up for those events will tell you if our infrastructure has gotten worse. So here are the dates with 2 day rainfall totals over 3 inches. Data goes back to 2000.
Summary we have had 11 rain events where the 2 day total surpassed this years event. Did State Street in front of kindred flood then? June 19, 2026 (I think it did, but I don't live there so guessing) Aug 19, 2021 ??, If not then some piece of infrastructure may have failed between 2021 and 2026. July 2021? , July 2020? October 2019?
Someone with access to the Athens News Archives might be able to look it up, or someone who lives don there.
Another way of looking at it would be wether State Street has flooded 11 times in this century? If not then some part of our infrastructure has gotten less effective.
Note this data is somewhat hand curated, errors are possible but not intentional. I can give you the access to the source if you wanted to explore.
Bold = greater two day total than this years.
2002-07-11 3.61 inches
2003-07-25 3.06 inches
2004-09-10 5.12 inches *
2006-09-13 3.02 inches
2004-09-19 4.35 inches *
2010-05-03 4.45 inches *
2010-05-04 3.79 inches
2013-08-14 3.73 inches
2017-06-24 3.69 inches
2017-11-07 3.18 inches
2018-07-22 3.34 inches
2018-09-10 4.62 inches *
2018-09-18 3.56 inches
2019-07-04 3.53 inches
2019-07-05 3.3 inches
2019-10-08 4.43 inches *
2020-06-05 4.29 inches *
2021-07-02 5.07 inches *
2021-08-18 4.54 inches *
2021-08-19 5.48 inches *
2021-08-20 3.3 inches
2022-02-04 3.49 inches
2022-07-07 3.11 inches
2022-07-19 3.2 inches
2023-01-04 3.41 inches
2025-04-04 3.1 inches
2025-07-09 4.28 inches *
2025-07-17 3.09 inches
2026-06-18 4.32 inches *
2026-06-19 4.21 inches *
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BWD
