A block of basements covered in water on Church Street.
A flooded locker room, briefing room, and hallway in the Champaign police station.
A roadway flood making Washington Street impassable.
These incidents are just a few examples of recurring flooding issues that have affected residents and city infrastructure throughout the City of Champaign. From January 2015 through July 2025, the Champaign Public Works Department received a total of 448 individual complaints about flooding and standing water, according to a review by CU-CitizenAccess.org.
The most frequent cause of flooding is clogged drain inlets, which are street-level grates that accumulate debris that prevents water from draining properly from roadways. Requests for assistance cited inlets as problematic in 66 cases spanning from 2015 to 2025.
Campbell Drive has experienced flooding in the roadway due to clogged drainage inlets that prevent stormwater from emptying properly. Since 2015, the city has logged 27 separate complaints about flooding along the street.
Several areas have emerged as consistent spots for flooding. Among them are Campbell Drive, Kirby Avenue, and Mattis Avenue, which have been the focus of multiple reports over the past decade. Collectively, these three streets account for 63 complaints, or 14% of complaints since 2015.
When a complaint comes in, the Champaign Public Works department dispatches a specialist from the department to investigate.
“They try to unclog the problem. They may also use a sewer jetter truck [vehicles equipped with high-pressure water jets] to run through the line if possible,” said Kris Koester, City of Champaign Public Works public information officer. “If it’s bigger than that, we send it over to our environmental engineering technician, who will get a contractor to look at it. And add it to a repair list.”
Each call received by the city department is logged with a location and the details of the report, including the caller’s description of the issue and whether it’s about flooding or standing water. The city has logged flooding complaints for decades.
The viaduct at Kirby Avenue and Neil Street has had chronic standing water, prompting 20 complaints over the years. In March 2025, the Champaign closed the eastbound lane on Kirby Avenue “to complete storm sewer repairs and associated pavement patching.”
“The Neil and Kirby area involves a bigger planning process and a longer period of time,” Koester said. “This is not yet in our 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.”
Another problem intersection, located at East Columbia and North Market in downtown, near the Illinois Terminal, has received 10 complaints.
The Capital Improvement Plan outlines action steps for future projects categorized into eight distinct areas. Road pavement, stormwater facilities, sanitary sewers, lights, signals and signs, sidewalks and paths, public facilities, bridges, and arbor and canopy make up these focus areas for improvement.
The stormwater utility fee, established in 2012, is one of the funding sources cited in the plan. More than $1.7 million in tax funds are used for sanitary sewer improvements, such as those listed in the city’s flooding complaints, as well as maintenance programs.
Beginning in October 2023, Mattis Avenue and Hedge Road have been the focal points of the ongoing Garden Hills Drainage Improvements Project initiated by the city. The project launched in 2019, and construction is underway to build a “massive new stormwater detention basin to provide local flood control,” according to the Public Works Department plan.
In May 2024, one caller filed a report that flooding at the intersection of Mattis Avenue and Hedge Road posed a severe hazard, stating that “vehicles aren’t aware until it is too late.” Construction for the basin is expected to be completed between late 2025 and early 2026, marking the end of the second phase of the city’s five-phase project.