MARY WILDS

Times Correspondent

DYER | As the west side of town dries out from the late August floods, residents Thursday night asked officials what steps will be taken to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Town officials had some answers for them, including the news they are in ongoing talks with the U. S. Geological Survey regarding a possible early flood warning system.

Dyer officials also will be meeting with representatives from St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers and from Munster, Town Manager Joe Neeb said.

Thursday's meeting was the second one in two days for residents about the flood. Roughly 40 residents were in attendance and the dialogue was fairly calm, though marked by a few outbursts.

"Everything you've said, we've heard, and we're taking seriously," Neeb said at one point. He also praised the residents, Boy Scout troops, work-release inmates, emergency personnel and town officials who pitched in and helped with rescue efforts.

In discussing what went wrong during the flood, residents and stormwater officials disagreed on the role the hospital played in the situation.

Residents insisted the new construction at the hospital's Dyer campus exacerbated problems in the nearby subdivisions, setting the stage for catastrophic flooding in those areas. Stormwater officials, however, said overflow from Plum Creek had flooded the hospital, not the other way around.

The flood was caused by a 10-foot surge in the creek, which came out of the Plum Creek watershed southwest of Dyer, they said.

The Rev. Greg Powers, whose parents live on Park Manor Drive, was among those who believed that building and development, particularly at the hospital, had influenced the situation. He suggested Dyer declare a building moratorium "before anything else happens" so the situation can be studied.

St. Margaret's did not have to submit a stormwater management plan to Dyer because its new buildings are on the state line.

Ken Tanis, a longtime resident of the Berens Monaldi neighborhood, said while any component within the watershed could have affected flooding, it'd be much better "for Illinois and Indiana to work together and be partners" when it comes to solving problems.

Unfortunately, Cook County does not have a history of cooperating with Dyer, Stormwater Board president Bill Jackson said. The board negotiated with the county for more than 10 years, trying to get permission to build a floodwall on county forest preserve land, only to abandon the idea because of the costs involved.

Dyer has been talking with the Munster officials, however, and so far the dialogue has been encouraging, and Munster officials appear willing to cooperate, Neeb said. Unlike Dyer, the Plum Creek ditch in Munster is an unregulated drain, meaning it is not maintained by Lake County.

Residents at both meetings pointed out that brush and debris in the Munster side of the ditch may have kept the water from flowing out of Dyer and taking its natural course into the Little Calumet River.