Flooding at the Sheps Center Site Area

On December 30th, 2015 a storm event occurred and led to severe flooding of the parking lots of Sheps Center (located at 725 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, Chapel Hill, NC). The runoff overtopped the banks of the ditch and flowed into the parking lots, carrying substantial amount of debris, sediment and leaves, severely affecting the normal function of the parking lots. The irregular open channel parallel to the Sheps building is determined to be the main cause of flooding by field observation. This report sought to identify the specific channel problems in detail and quantify their relative importance. Four technical options were presented and compared against five criteria. The recommended solution is a combination of all the four options, and includes increasing the channel section, fixing the choke points, improving pipe diversion inlet protection and replacing the culvert. An implementation plan was developed and the project costs were estimated.Master of Science in Environmental Engineerin