An area of Covington recently re-engineered to handle mass amounts of storm water runoff held off the recent surge in rainfall.

Gordy Street and parts of Newton Drive and Dearing Street were prone to flooding with even light rainfall, but a revamped drainage system of 26 catch basins kept much of the flooding issues at bay.

In addition to the catch basins, approximately 3,000 feet of drainage pipe was installed, open drainage ditches created and curbing installed during the project. Gordy Street was completely resurfaced to allow for better water runoff, sod was installed and trees are scheduled to be planted by the end of October to combat erosion.

Despite encountering massive rock structures during the pipe installation, the project was completed $10,000 under budget with all funding coming from the storm water fee.

“The original storm water runoff design just didn’t handle the growth this area has experienced,” said Covington Senior Engineering Technician Glenn Mitchell. “This is a project that was desperately needed and despite the massive rainfall we have experienced the last few weeks, the system in place seems to be working well.”

The project began in February and the drainage portion of the work was complete in July.

City officials are now working on their next storm water drainage project. An area of Ashley Drive and Brooks Cove off Dearing Street currently experiences flooding after moderate rainfall.

“The drainage system currently in place is approximately 25 years old, and the flow is restricted in certain areas,” Mitchell said. “We will increase the size of the pipe and other drainage components to address the flooding problem.”

The work should take two weeks to complete and is being performed by Legacy Water Group, located in Covington with a budgeted cost of $119,000. The project will be paid for with storm water fee revenue.