City to install crossover pipe to alleviate Mecca Avenue flooding

After months of flooding at residences around Mecca and Peerless avenues, the city of Homewood is planning to install a new pipe intended to reroute water and fix the issue.

Residents around Mecca and Peerless have dealt with flooding on streets, sidewalks and their own yards with every heavy rain in recent months. Clogged drains, undersized stormwater pipes and runoff from home construction sites have all shared the blame for the flooding.

Homewood Building Official Wyatt Pugh said via email on Friday that the city will install a "crossover" pipe in the city's right-of-way between properties on Mecca and Peerless, connecting to Peerless' main stormwater drain line.

The goal of the crossover pipe is to "intercept the bulk of water before it gets to the old, undersized and crooked piping under the houses on Peerless," Pugh said. It will also have a small water retention area with rip rap, or rock rubble, to prevent clogging and catch and slow down water flow, especially in heavy rain conditions.

"Once in place, [the pipe] will be a wide, straight path of least resistance to carry a good deal more water directly to the main drain network, getting it out of the neighborhood entirely," Pugh said.

Work on installing the pipe should start and wrap up the week of March 4.