The City of Hutchinson, in preparation for this week’s rain, is asking residents to “Adopt a Catch Basin”. The amount of snow and ice the City has received this year has left many catch basins blocked. Most of the time water will find its way to a catch basin, but sometimes it may need a little help. With weather forecasts calling for over an inch of rain this week, the City is asking for assistance from its residents in clearing snow and ice away from catch basins to assist in reducing the chances of urban flooding. If you know of a catch basin by or around your home or business, please assist the City in clearing away snow and ice so water can run smoothly to the storm water inlet. With over 3,600 catch basins, the City will not be able to get to every outlet between now and Wednesday when the rain is expected.
The City has set up equipment to respond to some of the localized flooding and a crew will be working on addressing issues that surfaced over this past weekend. If you know of a specific issue or “trouble spot”, please contact Public Works at (320) 234-4219 or fill out the online “report a problem” sheet (https://hutchinsonmn.gov/report-a-problem) from the City’s website to let staff know of these issues. There will also likely be some backyard drainage issues with the rain and the frozen ground. In these cases, residents are encouraged to pump the water to the street. Natural drainage patterns will take some time to reestablish due the amount of snow and ice we currently have in place.
