How does the upper Embarras reach an Urbana property?
Calls from Urbana begin with the same questions as anywhere on the list: the address, the wet room, the likely source and whether water is still moving. Because Urbana sits east of Champaign in Champaign County, the crew also asks about the outside route, since storm water from open ground can reach a lot from the east side. Urbana lies about 6.8 km east of Champaign, in Champaign County. Its nearest neighbours in the service plan are Savoy (5.7 km), Champaign (6.8 km) and Philo (10.7 km), so a crew sent from one of those places reaches Urbana on a route of about that length.
The upper Embarras River runs through Meadowbrook Park in the south of the city. The river's flooding in the basin in December 2015 is documented by the U.S. Geological Survey, and that record is cited here as a regional report. It does not map the flood onto any Urbana street, and a building in the city is read on its own evidence.
Water from a high river can reach a property through the ground, through a window well or through a storm drain that backs up. The crew traces the route it finds and says which entry needs sealing, so the drying does not start while the water is still arriving.
Where does the Kaskaskia River come into it?
The Kaskaskia River also rises in Champaign County near Urbana. That is a fact about where the river begins, and it is not evidence that the river has flooded any particular Urbana address. A caller who wants to know about the Kaskaskia side of the county should be told that the sources describe its origin, not a flood map.
For a property that is reached by overland water from the open ground around the city, the crew looks at the grade and the route, rather than at the name of a river on a map.
Who answers permit questions for Urbana?
The City of Urbana's building department answers questions about repair permits for buildings in the city. That office is separate from the City of Champaign's department, and a repair in Urbana should be checked against Urbana's rules, not Champaign's.
Keep the drying readings, the photographs and the removal list with any permit application. They show what was dried and what was removed before the repair began.
What should a south Urbana caller check first?
A caller in the south of Urbana, near Meadowbrook Park, should first say whether the water is coming from the ground, the surface, a drain or a pipe. Surface water that has crossed a lot, groundwater that has risen under a slab and a backup from a drain are all possible, and each one is handled differently. The first question on the call is therefore about the route the water took.
On arrival, the crew checks the lowest level of the building and the crawl space if there is one. It takes readings in the floor and the lower walls before it starts pumping, so that the water and the materials can both be recorded at the start.
