Flooding at Cleveland Park Metro

[JackRussell]

http://wtop.com/sprawl-crawl/2016/06/fl ... s/slide/1/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are several photos there, and there was a *LOT* of water. Reminiscent of photos from NYC during Sandy, in fact. Water running like a river down an escalator, and standing water several inches deep in one place that looks like the mezzanine.

More pictures on twitter:

https://twitter.com/search?q=flooding+c ... r%5Esearch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Backshophoss]

That looks as bad as what happened at South Ferry(the "new" station) after Sandy.
That's going to cost $$$$$ to repair.

[Sand Box John]

The escalator pits at the bottom of surface entrance escalator has a drain in it. The surface entrance escalator pit drain dumps in to the adjacent sewer. The water that flowed through the passageway drained down to the escalator pit at the mezzanine level. What water that didn't end up in the drains ran down the track bed to the pumping station in Rock Creek Park. The track drain pipes in the tunnels are 12" The 2 risers in the pumping station are 12".

Media reports says trains bypassed the station during the flooding event. Being that it was fresh water and not salt water, I don't think damage will be all that severe.

[JackRussell]

The escalator pits at the bottom of surface entrance escalator has a drain in it.

I had noted that some of the video clips showed water flowing towards the base of the escalator, and your comment explains why.

The station re-opened 2 hours after the flooding, so the cleanup was probably relatively minor. What I don't know is whether any of the escalators or elevators were damaged by this much water. The faregates themselves might have gotten some water inside of them, but had they all been out of service they would not have been able to reopen the station.

[Sand Box John]

"JackRussell"

I had noted that some of the video clips showed water flowing towards the base of the escalator, and your comment explains why.

The station re-opened 2 hours after the flooding, so the cleanup was probably relatively minor. What I don't know is whether any of the escalators or elevators were damaged by this much water.

The induction motors in the escalators are roughly halfway between the top and bottom, all of the wiring is in water proof conduits and junction boxes. The surface entrance elevator is over head traction located in an underground vault behind the elevator.

The faregates themselves might have gotten some water inside of them, but had they all been out of service they would not have been able to reopen the station.

All of the electronics in the fare gates and vendors are well above the floor.

[litz]

The biggest issue with escalators/elevators in this kind of situation is water washing the grease off of surfaces and out of bearings. That will all have to be inspected.

[srepetsk]

WMATA video of the incident: https://twitter.com/wmata/status/745708340550983680" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[afiggatt]

WMATA has posted a neat time lapse video on youtube from a surveillance camera showing the top of the entrance and the sidewalk outside: Cleveland Park Flooding Time Lapse - June 21, 2016. The flash flooding event lasted only 11 minutes before the water receded.

From the video, it appears that raising the entrance 5" to 6" above the sidewalk with a ramp leading up to the entrance would have been enough to prevent the flooding from pouring down the stairs and escalator into the station.

[MCL1981]

Building a levee around the station isn't necessary. What's necessary is DC Water and DDOT fixing whatever is wrong with the storm water drainage in the area. Heavy rain in the past hasn't resulted in this. Clearly something was clogged.

[JDC]

Building a levee around the station isn't necessary. What's necessary is DC Water and DDOT fixing whatever is wrong with the storm water drainage in the area. Heavy rain in the past hasn't resulted in this. Clearly something was clogged.

I don't have a link handy, but one of the local news organizations went with DDOT or DC Water to look at the drains and found nothing wrong with them.

[MCL1981]

By the fact that there was a tsunami spilling over from the road, I'd say there was definitely something wrong with it. Whether it's something wrong by design, or something wrong by lack of upkeep, the water isn't supposed to be there.

[Sand Box John]

"MCL1981"
By the fact that there was a tsunami spilling over from the road, I'd say there was definitely something wrong with it. Whether it's something wrong by design, or something wrong by lack of upkeep, the water isn't supposed to be there.

The storm drains there day back to when the station was built. Everything under Connecticut Avenue from Ordway Street to north wall of the passageway under the street was rebuilt during the construction of the station.

Flooding has happened there several times before. To my knowledge this is the first time flooding left standing water in the passageway. WMATA has had sand bags around the vent shaft openings on the east side of Connecticut Avenue adjacent to the station entrance for several years now. If the storm drains have become inadequate because of some blockage then clean out blockage. What most don't know is, the Storm drains (catch basins) have flat bottoms in them. The floor of the catch basin is below the pipe the carries the storm water away. The bottom of the catch basin accumulates dirt, sand, leafs and other debris restricting the flow of storm runoff. When I lived in DC back in the 1970s DCWASA ran a fleet trucks that routinely cleaned to accumulate material out the catch basins.

[MCL1981]

That's what I was getting at by lack of maintenance. When your drainage system is half filled with garbage, the water will go somewhere else.

[smallfire85]

MCL is right, it is a stormwater managemenr issue. Everybody is faulting Metro for a flooded sidewalk. A sidewalk should not flood to the point where an escalator at sidewalk level has an inch or two of water flowing down it.

I did a site survey of the storm drainage of that area a couple years back. Just pick a nice rainy day amd se foe yourself. Basically, during heavy rains the water runoff from the buildings on the east side of Connecticut Ave drain into the alleys South and North of Ordway St. All that runoff flows onto Ordway and flows West to Connecticut. Due to the topography, the most of the runoff flows to the catch basin on the southeast corner of Ordway and the service road of Connecticut. That basin's capacity is then maxed out to the point where the water (typically) ponds North across Ordway to the catch basin on the northeast corner of the intersection. That CB is then maxed out and all the runoff flows North around the corner to the CB on Connecticut which is adjacent to the east entrance to the Cleveland Park station. By that time, that CB is taking the effective runoff area East of Connecticut one block north and south of Ordway, including all the buildings that drain in to the alleys off Orway one That CB then overflows, spills onto the sidewalk and into the station.

[smallfire85]

The storm drains there day back to when the station was built. Everything under Connecticut Avenue from Ordway Street to north wall of the passageway under the street was rebuilt during the construction of the station.

Flooding has happened there several times before. To my knowledge this is the first time flooding left standing water in the passageway. WMATA has had sand bags around the vent shaft openings on the east side of Connecticut Avenue adjacent to the station entrance for several years now.

From what I know, the sand bags were put in place because the tunnel vent shafts adjacent to the east station entrance were getting inundated with water during bad storms. The issue really came to light when the years-old sandbags broke and killed a tree in the planter between the shafts.

Does that strip mall on the east side of Connecticut predate the Metro? If not, that could've greatly contributed to the problem by increasing the impervious surface area of the local region.