Climate change isn't just creating stronger hurricanes and melting polar ice caps.

It's also increasing urban flooding in places like Chicago and residents of the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side experience more flooding than any other community in the city and are gone.

Lead project is working to alleviate the problem.

The problem alongside neighbors who've experienced the damage of urban flooding firsthand.

Joining us now with more, our major fears executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative and a Chatham resident.

And Catherine O'Connor, director of engineering at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Thanks to both for joining us.

Major, let's start with you, please.

You're a longtime Chatham resident.

You actually a very personal connection to the devastating that happens there.

Tell us more about that.

Please.

Yes, I'm a daughter of Chatham.

Our family house.

>> I we call we had 4 major flood events, 2 of which the water trickett electrical fires and we had smoke damage throughout the house.

And so we know what it's like personally to live through that.

And then I look at my neighbors who also have had serious flooding events and then connect the dots between why people have not updated their kitchens in their bass because we have every 6, 8, years you have a major flooding, basement.

>> That is where you put your additional funds.

So it is a significant problem and it impacts wealth.

>> How how things progressed over the years, how they worsened.

>> They're the same.

I mean, when we look at South Center for neighborhood Technology, good analysis in 2015, we have been looking at.

3, 1, 1, calls to report flooding events.

And we had a major flooding event in July of last year where many people experience flooding.

So we're concerned and we're taking steps because we know as they severe weather events occur more often that we should Congo.

It rains.

And unfortunately, when it rains in Chicago, it floods in Chatham.

>> All right.

Katherine Howe is urban flooding different from the flooding that most of us think about most of us.

Think about riverine flooding and the river gets to a flood stage and over bank flooding.

But more recent focuses urban flooding, urban flooding is devastating.

Homes are a problem.

FEMA is designed or it has been established for mostly for riverine flooding.

And now even FEMA refocusing on urban flooding.

They see the devastation.

They see the heartbreak.

They see the terrible expense to residents.

WR D and FEMA, federal and local governments are taking a closer look.

And and more of a focus, right?

We tend to think of it as the kind of thing that occurs in the wake of Hurricane Milton, for example, that we've been seeing lately.

But it can happen when.

>> When Chatham gets a lot of because major everywhere in Chicago, of course, see rain.

But the surrounding area, as you've said, that flood more than other parts of the city.

Tell me about why hatch, Adam is situated for that to happen right?

>> So we've been working with our Khon lap through their Crocus project, which is a significant projects funded by EPA and they've been helping to use their scientists and supercomputers to help model and tell us why the flooding is happening.

And so this is a 5 year project.

year 2 of 5, but preliminary information in the case that basically the water from Chicago is backing up into our home.

So this is infrastructure problem.

But yes, we have a high water table and have a high water table, but that doesn't explain disproportionately white water backs up in basement.

Catherine, does Mw Rd have any any sense of is is experiencing this specifically?

>> July second, 2023, the West Side was hit much harder.

30's toward Cicero that It flooded.

Directly proportional to the rain.

They've received 9 inches of rain and roughly 12 hours.

So I know does have some low lying areas.

We are aware of some depression, areas and so that we are working with the city, Chicago Department of Water Management creating more green space in intercepting that flow as much flows.

We keep out of the collect out of the combined soar.

The less likely it is to back up into the home.

So on July second, 2023, I think it's informative to know that a typical Chicago house would have discharged on the order of 400 gallons of water from a dishwasher in showers, etc.

The rain that fell that day was 8,000 gallons fell on the roof of the typical Chicago House.

8,000 gallons versus 4,000 gallons.

We want to interrupt intercept the roof load disconnect.

The downspouts water reclamation district has published Green Neighbor Guide and walks residents through what you can do to protect your home in a green manner, create more green space.

If you have the property to meaningfully collect and we do subsidize rain barrels else.

Capture the road.

float new drug radar Chatham initiative.

As mentioned, you all are partnered with Argon combat this issue.

And there's the studying and researching Take us back to how it started, how you all were able to get involved in a climate project like this.

>> Ruth really thrilled with that partnership with our KHON.

We have longstanding relationship with some are gone officials.

And so they asked us if we would participate and we really grab that opportunity because we really want to drill down and figure out why the flooding is happening.

Yes, and so having become a partner with them, we've learned that as captain says, Snow that the fancy word file infrastructure, putting in trees putting in native plants putting in.

>> And what people can do individually putting in.

>> Over hits sewers and some point all of that's important.

But if the reality is that he sewer is system can't handle the overflow of rain and is backing up and in our basements.

We need to fix the pipes.

infrastructure is really important.

>> And we need to do that because as we all have lived through this, that we have more 300 year flood events that happens.

It seems every 2 or 3 weeks.

And so we don't want to be North Carolina where they said we couldn't thought of it.

And so therefore, we didn't plan for it.

And we did do anything protect those folks.

So we see our cons project as an opportunity to really drill down understand what is happening so weak.

It can get fixed.

So it's not just happenstance.

>> Catherine, you know, there's a perception that flooding is inevitable based on, you know, geographic location.

And of course, in the city we've got more concrete and asphalt that does not soak up the rain the way green space might.

How can massive floods be prevented?

I don't have a good massive warning will 12 inches of rain or 9 inches of rain in 12 hours.

There's no system that can handle that.

So what we need for dad is adaptive management and we need to make sure that things are off of the floor in the basement that major challenge.

But we do want to be flood resilient.

We have over 250 projects in design or construction.

We've taken 19,000 structures out of significant flood risk in just the 10 years that water reclamation district has had authorization to work of local projects.

We work very closely with Chicago Department of Water Management after flood last July.

We do have a significant project.

in the works approved by our Board of Commissioners for construction on the West side of Chicago.

And that will protect hundreds of homes.

But those huge.

9 inches of rain.

We did.

That was not forecast.

I don't know.

just want to make sure that that doesn't happen and I don't know how we do and that folks as as prepared for it as