NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — In our commitment to cover subjects that matter to you, we continue to Follow Through on the stories that impact you each day.
News 5 returned to the site of Sprague Road on the border of Parma and North Royalton.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
It’s been a persistent problem spot for years.
Flooding and property damage happen every single time strong storms roll through the area.
But now a permanent fix has been made.
Sprague Road is officially re-opening to all traffic.
The project was completed earlier this month.
Residents say they’re feeling optimistic about the future.
Longtime North Royalton resident Pastor Rick Duncan and his neighbors have experienced some of the worst of the worst when it comes to flooding along Maplegrove Avenue.
"I lost a car because of the flooding. There used to be a house right here. It's not here anymore. There used to be a house there. It's not there anymore," Duncan said.
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District bought those homes and tore them down.
Duncan's place is safe.
But for years he's watched this creek, Big Creek located in his backyard, overflow and cause serious problems.
"That water comes flying through here, and it's just chewing up the banks so we've lost a significant amount of property," Duncan said.
Back in May, News 5 featured Scott Robertson on Thornhurst Drive who echoed those same concerns.
"They lost 20 feet in that area. I've lost 10 feet or so in the back. It's knocked trees into my house," Robertson said.
After at least two months of work, crews officially completed the Big Creek Flood Reduction project along along Sprague Road.
The construction equipment has been cleared out of the area.
This wide-open field remains.
The busy road and cut-through for Parma residents is also open to all-thru traffic.
Although orange fencing is still posted up in the area, officials say they've successfully doubled the size of the culvert.
You'll notice immediate changes especially when it starts raining in the area.
The true test happened Thursday, July 20 when storms ripped through the News 5 viewing area, with non-stop rainfall and damaging winds.
Duncan says for the first time,in a long time, he surprisingly didn't have to clean up flood waters the next day.
"I was wondering on Friday... Ok, is this gonna be like it was before, and it wasn't as bad. So maybe it helped," Duncan said.
"A little over two and a half inches of rain fell in a very short period of time. But the culvert did everything it was supposed to do. Now it's properly sized for the space. The entire stream flowed through the culvert, flowed into the daylight stream," Jenn Elting, NEORSD Spokesperson said.
Crews also daylighted part of the stream so you can see it working.
Elting says the problem for years is that the water would go into a couple of other culverts, forced to make a tight 90-degree turn and flood the area.
That's not the case anymore though with the fix.
"It will allow the stream to do what streams are designed to do. So rise up during heavy weather, rise up into its floodplain, and then naturally flow as things dry up a little bit," Elting said.
For Duncan, that brings tremendous relief.
"I'm happy they're doing something. Watch and wait right? Yeah," Duncan said.
As for what happens next with this project, crews will re-seed the area in late August.
Then in October, they will plant roughly 100 trees around it.
News 5 will continue to monitor the progress.
