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Alleviating Flood Damage to Critical Hospital Infrastructure through Stream Restoration at Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s Foundation in Louisville, Kentucky

Bradley M. Anderson, PE, CPESC, LEED AP
RES (Resource Environmental Solutions)
Louisville, KY

A near 100-year flood event in August of 2009 caused extensive flooding of Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky resulting in the shutdown of the hospital and transfer of patients to a nearby facility.  Additionally, numerous vehicles in the adjacent parking lot were damaged.  The sources of flooding were the nearby degraded intermittent streams receiving urban drainage that had become overwidened, incised and entrenched with vertical eroding banks, and overgrown with invasive shrub species.  An interdisciplinary approach was taken to alleviate future flooding concerns and centered around the restoration of the intermittent stream with increased flood conveyance.  Hydraulic engineers identified hydraulic constraints along the stream channel.  Ecologists and ecological engineers were employed to design a restored stream utilizing natural channel design techniques to meet the conveyance needs, while improving stream function.  Once a new, lower flood elevation was determined for the restored stream system, mechanical/electrical engineers re-designed and floodproofed the mechanical and electrical controls within the hospital building to prevent damage during future periods of heavy rainfall.  Components of the stream restoration included adding riffle/pool morphology, floodprone benches, boulder j-hooks, log vanes, branch layering with soil lifts, live staking, soil/riprap mix, and a native riparian corridor to provide stream stabilization and habitat improvements.  Other components of the project included upgrading the size of an existing culvert within the stream restoration reach, elevating a pedestrian bridge over the stream, installation of a flood flow conveyance box culvert at the downstream end of the stream restoration reach, and construction of a floodwall.  Overall, this project is a successful example of utilizing an interdisciplinary team to achieve numerous interrelated goals, including urban flood protection along with improved stream ecology.  The completion of the project has resulted in the hospital and the majority of the adjacent parking lot being removed from the 100-year floodplain.