A Harvard reader of McHenry County Blog shares this information with us:

This morning there was a great deal of flooding in Harvard.

In the last several years there have been a lot of houses constructed to the north of Northfield Avenue.

When we moved to Harvard in 1988 we were told that the land north of Northfield would never be developed because it was on a flood plain.

This morning a lot (if not all) of the houses experienced flooding. The streets were flooded, and the lift station put in to prevent flooding had water shooting up out of it like a geyser.

Fairly soon it looked like a convoy of police, city and county vehicles driving down Northfield Avenue to see what happens when a city allows building on a flood plain.

Harvard annexed this land and the developing began.

To my knowledge the property owners were never told that the land was in a flood plain.

Recently there are really large homes being built off the north end of 4th street (to the north of Northfield Ave).

This spring heavy equipment was brought in and tremendously deep (maybe 80-90 feet) holes were dug for the purpose of preventing flooding. I was concerned because they dug through the layers of blue clay into the gravel below. This area drains into the little creek that runs through Chemung. I believe the spring in this land connect to the headwaters of the Kishwaukee River.

Both are considered extremely clean waterways. I believe that by digging these very deep holes the oil, and dirt from the lawn tractors, cars etc., may contaminate these waters.

I am upset that the city has allowed building in a flood plain and I am upset because to the best of my knowledge none of the owners were told that they were building on a flood plain when they purchased their homes.

We have the 50-year flood plain maps. I have heard that current maps of flood plains do not list this property as being a flood plain. That strikes me as odd.

Before building the huge homes off the end of 4th street the heavy equipment scooped out a great deal of soil and replaced it with 10 or more feet of gravel. Then they covered this with some soil (maybe 1 foot or so). This will help drainage but what happens in the years to come as the trees grow. If we get really wet years and have a storm with heavy winds won’t the trees tip out of the ground and possibly crush houses and/or people.

One other thing on a much lighter note.

The first two large houses have two car garages. In front of the garage doors there are bushes planted. In front of the bushes nice lawns have been planted. In front of the nice lawns is a black wrought iron fence. Between the fence and the street is the sidewalk and more lawn. My point being is that the driveways are missing and the bushes, lawn and fences are where the driveways should be. I’ve checked in the back of the houses and there is not an access to drive around the back and pull in that way.

So, who was mayor when the subdivision was approved?