Cincinnati City Council unanimously directed the city to study its stormwater infrastructure Wednesday, Sept. 16, two months after flash flooding damaged roughly 100 properties on the East Side. The vote was unanimous, WLWT reported.

The motion tasks city administrators with examining storm drain maintenance, detention basins, underground water storage and permeable pavement. Council members expect findings within a couple of months, according to WCPO.

The study is the first council measure aimed at long-term infrastructure changes for Hyde Park, Oakley and surrounding neighborhoods still recovering from storms that struck July 17 and July 21. A sewer manhole on Observatory Avenue in Hyde Park spewed water into the street during the flooding, Local 12 reported. The city contacted about 40 properties that may have been affected by the Duck Creek Floodgate failing to close during the July 17 storm, according to the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council.

Council Member Mark Jeffreys, who represents parts of the East Side, said he experienced the flooding firsthand.

"I think what we hear are a lot of people who are still recovering … and just hugely frustrated," Jeffreys said at the Sept. 16 meeting. "What they expect from us are not answers tomorrow in terms of a solution implemented tomorrow, but what they expect is a plan."

Jeffreys has advocated for reducing hard surfaces that funnel rainwater into overwhelmed sewers. After visiting flood-damaged businesses in Hyde Park on July 21, he told Green Umbrella in a July 27 article that water was pouring off a nearby school parking lot "like a river."

The study builds on emergency steps the city has already taken. Mayor Aftab Pureval announced a $1 million relief fund after the July storms, and council doubled it to $2 million on Aug. 5. City Manager Sheryl Long called the July 17 storm "a wake-up call" after the flooding, citing sewer infrastructure dating to the 1890s, Green Umbrella reported.

Hyde Park resident Christina Rittenburg reported $6,000 in furnace and water heater repairs, $2,800 in cleaning and restoration costs, mold remediation and a destroyed washer-dryer after the flooding, Local 12 reported in July.

The damage goes beyond dollars. Rittenburg is one of many East Side homeowners still dealing with the aftermath.

The Metropolitan Sewer District has separately proposed a pilot program that would require 510 property owners with large paved surfaces to pay surcharges based on runoff volume. That program needs Hamilton County Commissioner approval, expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.