Rain sends city workers drain digging

Caught in Tuesday afternoon’s rainstorms without an umbrella, junior Evan Scher was waiting for the campus bus shoeless. He’d underestimated the rain, he said, and wore bedroom slippers to class.\nWalking from the bus stop at Jordan Avenue near Seventh Street, Scher decided to ditch the slippers and walk the remainder of the way to Woodburn Hall barefoot.\nThough the National Weather Service predicted only one half inch of rainfall over south-central Indiana Tuesday, streets were flooded along Seventh Street and much of the areas surrounding campus. \nDot Houck, legal secretary at IU Student Legal Services, said she expects the side streets of Park and and Fess Avenues to flood whenever she can see the Jordan River overflowing, as it did Tuesday.\n“And when that happens, it rains inside here too,” said Chris Wilson, administrative secretary at IU Student Legal Services.\nDays like Tuesday mean overtime for the city’s Utilities Department employees, said Jon Callahan, public affairs specialist for Bloomington Utilities.\nThough utilities employees regularly clear sewer inlets and street drains, all crews are sent out to re-clear drains when \nit rains.\n“Soon as it starts raining, we go out,” Callahan said. \nHe said it’s a necessary, but largely unappreciated job. The weather usually requires workers to do the same job more than twice, clearing the drains by hand with small rakes in the pouring rain. \n“The public is a big help to us,” Callahan said. He said he regularly fields calls from residents who have flooded streets and he encourages anyone facing flooding to call the Utilities Department at 349-3940.