In 2021, Patrick Jeffrey, a 55-year-old father of two, died after being sucked into a storm drain during a flood in a New Jersey suburb. Jeffrey lived in the same neighborhood as reporter Topher Sanders. Jeffrey had known debris sometimes clogged the opening of a large, exposed pipeway and prevented stormwater from properly draining. For years, a group of dads would take turns clearing the drain when flooding got bad.
When Sanders learned what had happened, his first question was, “How did that happen?” And then, “Why was it allowed to happen?” He spent several months investigating those questions and learned that an alarming number of people, especially children, have drowned after disappearing into storm drains during floods.
Three years later, a new federal rule aims to decrease the number of drownings. The rule, which went into effect in May and applies to new projects funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, builds on guidance the federal agency released in 2022 in direct response to ProPublica’s investigation. It requires that local officials overseeing projects in areas prone to flooding consider safety measures for drain openings, such as grates to cover them.
