Village of La Grange officials said the town's antiquated sewer system was simply outmatched by heavy rains this past summer and that was the reason for the flooding that plagued the town.

On July 24 nearly 7 inches of rain fell on La Grange and caused massive flooding in the streets, yards and basements. About 4 inches of rain fell within a two-hour window, according to the National Weather Service. That storm was described as a 100-year storm, meaning a storm that produces that much rain that quickly only comes along once every 100 years. Less than two weeks later another 2 inches fell on Aug. 3, which exacerbated the flooding issues.

During a special meeting about the La Grange sewer system Oct. 18, Ryan Gillingham, director of public works in La Grange, said his staff examined 70,000 feet of sewer pipe throughout the village and found no blockages that would explain the flooding. He said his department came to the conclusion that the more than 100-year-old sewer system had reached its capacity during that storm.

During the meeting village staff spent two hours explaining how the La Grange sewer and wastewater system works, why the system failed following heavy rains in July and what the village's long term solutions are. The village was represented by Gillingham, Tom Heuer, village engineer, Patrick Benjamin, director of community development, and representatives from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

"The sewer system in La Grange is an old and often overwhelmed system," Heuer said. "When the sewer system is overloaded, it will flood."

Terry O'Brien, president of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, agreed. He said the July storm was unusual and created flooding problems across the Chicago region. He said one inch of rainfall across Cook County equals 15 billion gallons of water. That day his district had to handle nearly 70 billion gallons of water from rainfall, he said.

But that explanation was not good enough for some of the village residents attending the meeting.

Timothy Takesh, who lives on N. Peck Avenue, said he has lived in his house since 1992 and has never had any issues with flooding or standing water in his yard. However, he said since the village repaved his street two years ago he's been flooded several times.

"I don't buy that it was a 100 year event. It happens far too often for that to stand up," Takesh said. "I think there's something wrong with the way the streets were paved."

Takesh said since the repaving he's been forced to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars trying to protect his home from flooding. He has put in multiple sump pumps, overhead sewer lines, back flow valves and sewer break lines. So far nothing has prevented water from flooding his basement after a hard rain, he said.

"I had a beautifully finished basement, but I've had to tear everything out. I'm not going to re-finish it until I get some answers from the village," he said.

John Bovart, a neighbor of Takesh, said he is experiencing the same problems.

"I've been looking for an answer to this problem. I've been looking for two years now," he said.

Like Takesh, Bovart said he is convinced the problem was caused by the village.

Takesh was not the only one who thought so. Several residents of Poplar Place said they experienced multiple bouts of flooding after their street was repaved. Megan Davidson said her street was paved around the same time as N. Peck Avenue. She said in the past two years she has dealt with eight bouts of flooding.

Heuer reiterated the sewer system is antiquated. He said when it was built in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries it was well built for its time. However, he said if it were built today the sewer would require larger diameter pipes. He said the village cannot afford to rebuild the entire sewer system. But they are planning three relief systems to help alleviate some of the amounts of groundwater runoff. The relief systems will be built along Maple Avenue, Ogden Avenue and south of 47^th Street. The three projects are projected to cost between $25 and $30 million. The village board will discuss these plans during the January board meeting when they lay out capital improvement programs.

Village President Liz Asperger said the village cannot solve all the flooding and sewer problems in a short period of time.

"It takes a lot of money, but the village is concerned about these issues and we are working to alleviate the problem," she said.