Flood - What Really Caused Flooding

On May 7, an article appeared in the Chicago Tribune with this title:

"Wheaton will fix problem pipe that caused Briarcliffe flooding" (Article title revised May 17 - See Note 1)

That title is inaccurate and misleading. This prompted me to send an email with photos to the reporter who posted the story.

Here's the content of the email I sent on May 12:
"I read the May 7th article “Wheaton will fix problem pipe that caused Briarcliffe flooding” at the online Chicago Tribune. The title is grossly inaccurate.

Will the Tribune be running an article about how the overtopping of the berms on Pond #7 and Lake #4 caused Briarcliffe flooding on April 18 and how on April 20 the “leaking pipe” resulted in a reverse 9-1-1?

These were two distinct events separated by about 54 hours. The leak did not cause or result in any flooding. All water from the leak flowed a few feet and into two storm sewers. This is shown on the two attached photos of the “leak” from that pipe.

The residents who were quoted were describing the flooding of the 18th.

Also attached is a photo on April 18 of the flooding which began with the overflow (overtopping) of the berm on College of DuPage’s (Glen Ellyn) Pond #7. The flooding on April 18 was the result of the overtopping which began at COD’s pond 7 and then as the water level of Pond 7 increased, this overtopping expanded to the west and into Lake #4. Earlier studies by Wheaton indicated that the actual width of this overtopping was several hundred feet in width, and included Glen Ellyn’s College of Dupage as well as portions of Wheaton’s Lake #4.

The attached map may help you in visualizing this. You can go to Google Maps and it will show the area."

Here's two photos of the "leak" on April 20 which the article stated "caused Briarcliffe flooding":

Here's a photo of the beginning of the flooding on April 18:

Here is a link to the online article at the Chicago Tribune:

Clicking will open a New Window> Pipe that caused Briarcliffe Flooding


Notes:

1. On May 14, the title of the article in the Chicago Tribune was changed to "Wheaton will fix problem pipe that contributed to Briarcliffe flooding"  The reporter at the Tribune has defended the title of the article thusly: "Just to clarify, the main point of this article was to point out that the city of Wheaton will be paying for this pipe, which engineers believe “contributed” to the floods." However, the photos don't support anyone's position that the pipe contributed to the flooding, except in the most insignificant manner. Yes, there was an outflow of a few gallons per minute. How does that compare to the overtopping of COD's Pond #7 and Wheaton's Lake #4 which contributed thousands of gallons per minute? This is what the overtopping created: