Several days of heavy rain have filled parts of Chicago’s Deep Tunnel system for the first time ever. Now the city is turning to more local projects to stop flooding that devastated parts of the west side in 2023.

The MWRD and Chicago’s Department of Water Management came up with an innovative retrofit for a part of the city hit hard by previous storms.

Mayor Johnson lauds a $12 million pilot project to build underground storage in Austin aimed at capturing floodwater before it overwhelms outdated sewers. The city hopes the concept can be a model for other neighborhoods.

The MWRD partnered with the City of Chicago to fund the construction of $12 million in underground stormwater storage facilities designed to help mitigate flooding for West Side residents and build capacity for local sewers to capture rainfall during intense storms.

The rain over the July Fourth holiday weekend overwhelmed a massive system meant to handle Chicago's stormwater, causing untreated water to be dumped into area rivers.

Multiple rounds of heavy rain fell between July 2 and July 4, leading to flash flooding in streets and rising river levels across the greater Chicago region, with some municipalities reporting 8 to 10 inches of rain over the 48-hour period.
According to the MWRD, its two largest Deep Tunnel reservoirs are nearly at capacity.