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Sep 14, 2008 10:38 pm US/Central
Residents Work To Save Homes After Rainfall
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A scene in Albany Park, Ill. following the record-breaking rainfall on Sept. 13-14.
CBS
Across the Chicago area, record-breaking weather has caused four deaths -- and hundreds of people have been forced from their homes.
County officials are responding by declaring "a state of emergency" across much of the area.
"This is a tragedy for those who tonight will be sleeping somewhere else instead of their own homes and we will continue to, as a County government, to (aid) with the help of these fine individuals -- do everything that we can to make sure that their pain is lessened as much as we can help it," said Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16th).
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov spent the day with homeowners working overtime to flush out their basements.
A city spokesperson says about 4,000 people called 311 Sunday alone to report water in their basements.
Many of them might very well live in Albany Park, where the Chicago River ran out of its banks Saturday and continued flooding the area Sunday.
And for some people, it got worse instead of better.
Nelly Petrea couldn't get the water out of her garden-level condo fast enough.
Despite three pumps and a generator, the floodwater was receding slowly; a flood that only engulfed her Albany Park residence after the power went out.
"We were lucky 'til now," Petrea said. "I don't know...right now we're doing everything we can."
Petrea is one of dozens of flood victims in the northwest side neighborhood, where many homes and buildings sit yards from the overflowing Chicago River.
Water Reclamation Board President Terrence O'Brien says the area got the equivalent of 1.2 billion gallons of water over the weekend – wreaking havoc on the Albany Park area and beyond.
"It's going to take us a few days just to get the water levels down," he said.
That's bad news for folks flooded out of their homes. Over the past 48 hours, city crews have sandbagged and tried to help keep the water at bay.
But the record rainfall has proven to be too much for many homeowners, including some who've spent thousands of dollars installing flood control systems to no avail.
"For the first time today me and my wife are thinking maybe we shouldn't have bought this house," said flood victim Dirk Vandenheuvel. "Maybe we should just sell this house and move because it doesn't seem no matter what we do stops it. And I don't know what the city os doing to fix it for these people."
Vandenheuvel says a stretch of Carmen, just west of Kimball, is particularly worrisome. Crews sandbagged the street at Kimball, essentially causing a dam and keeping the street flooded. It got so bad, firefighters had to help get people out.
"It just kept coming up, coming up, coming up," said Albany Park resident Stan Gnoske.
But he says he feels lucky. If it wasn't for the help of his son, two visitors, and a blue barrel, he's convinced his basement would be underwater too.
"This morning, when the water started comng up the drains, they came downstairs with me and started bailing and we bailed 50 gallon drum barrels -- 10-15, 55 gallon drums of water out of the basement," Gnoske said.
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