Chicago Area Local News

DES PLAINES, Ill. (CBS) ― City officials say three days of rain dumped more than 100 billion gallons of water on the city and outlying areas.

Thousands across the Chicago area remain unable to return home, and several communities are without electrical power, but still awash in floodwaters that just won't quit.

For many of those whose homes are accessible, the water has ruined much of what they owned.

Northeast Illinois has been declared a disaster area. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed an executive order Tuesday declaring a state disaster emergency for Lake and Porter counties. More than 5,000 people have been evacuated from Munster, and several hundred more have been forced from their homes in other towns in the region.  Read more about Indiana's flooding here.

In Des Plaines the contaminated water is receding, but still well above flood stage. Tuesday morning, the Des Plaines River was at 8.1 feet; flood stage is just 5 feet. 

Homes, businesses and streets there remain flooded and the nasty job of drying out is definitely in its early stages.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports town officials expect river levels to go back down to normal sometime after midnight.

But it's going to take lot longer that that for homeowners to recover.

"It's very painful. It's like I haven't done anything at all to the house, because everything I've done has been ruined by this storm," said resident Brett Batch-Elder.

Because the flood waters reached the first floor of her home Batch-Elder figures the damage to her home is more than $20,000.

There are similar stories of anguish across Des Plaines. More than 2,500 home were hit by floodwaters. Tuesday, as some residents, like Ted Tworek assessed their damages they discovered irreplaceable losses.

"My wife's family pictures, all kinds of personal items, it's all gone. It's just time to clean up," Tworek said.

That included reducing water-logged furniture to trash and giving away rusted bikes to the metal dealers. But most of what could be heard Tuesday were pumps draining water from the flooded basements.

Misa Ono lived in her home during the floods of 1986. She said this damage is just as bad.

From the looks of the river that still bleeds into back yard, it may seem as bad as 1986. But the river levels of 2008 will go down as the second highest in history. In 1986 the water was about eight inches higher – not enough to make Ono move then, or now.

"What can you do? We don't want to get another mortgage, right? This is all paid for. You stay," Ono said.

Now they are left with the sewer odor of drenched carpets and furniture, ruined appliances and belongings. Residents say they feel lost and forgotten.

"We do feel forgotten," Ross said. "The City of Des Plaines brought baggers, but it was too late."

"It was a disaster," added Vicak Bisak. "The people -- we helped each other as much as we could, because nobody helped us."

CBS 2's Anne State reports that when your basement or your home floods, everyone is faced with the same question. What do you take with you?

Piles of furniture next to standing water is a familiar sight in Des Plaines.

"We didn't have time to sandbag or get pumps to keep it out of our first floor. It was just a lot of rain," said Bernard Benjamin, flood victim.

Bernard Benjamin is one of the many residents in clean-up mode.

Basements are starting to dry out, trash is piling up and Donna Turvek is on the floor trying to salvage precious family photos that were soaked, including pictures of her mom who passed away three years ago.

Others have lost treasured items too.

"Stuffed animals, everything that I got when I was little that I cherish so much I had to throw away," said Jackie Wijas, flood victim.

However, there is a lot here that was saved.

Bernard said he had just enough time to grab his mementos.

"I asked my wife, 'What's priority?' and she tells me, 'This, this, this Christmas stuff, this is sentimental,' and we do that right away," Benjamin said.

Meanwhile, residents who were forced to leave their homes stayed at a Red Cross shelter.

"We usually have clothing or sweat pants or sweat suits on hand so that people can change into a clean pair of clothes, because there were several people that arrived here with nothing but the clothes they had on," said Jeff Rausch of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. "Because the water rose so fast, they didn't have time to grab anything."

Some 40 people had to seek shelter and meals at the Prairie Lakes Center, at 515 E. Thacker St. The shelter took in residents of Addison, Rosemont and other towns along the Des Plaines River.

Those who stayed at the shelter were grateful, but uncomfortable.

"It's cold. It's cold in our building right now, it's cold. My husband couldn't sleep all night because it was cold," said Angelique Land-Harms. "But we were told we could ask for blankets." 

The town of Des Plaines is slowly recovering from the flood. There are no more power outages, the traffic lights are working and all of the high schools were open Tuesday; all of the elementary schools will be open Wednesday.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich also toured the area on Monday and declared seven counties disaster areas. The governor hopes that by proclaiming Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will counties disaster areas, impacted communities will be able to more quickly and effectively respond to and recover from the flooding that has plagued the Chicago area over the past several days.

Meanwhile, serious problems have also been reported in Morris, in Grundy County southwest of the Chicago area. The Morris Fire Department made several boat rescues when Nettle Creek ran over its banks and displaced 28 people in an apartment complex.

Fire officials in Morris said the creek runs into the Illinois River, which has not been this high since 1957.

Some of the residents were elderly and had mobility issues, and many had pets and had to find shelter.

One family said the rising water took them by surprise.

A woman said she was "just scrambling around, trying to get things, and we thought we'd make it. But the water was up and up and up and I said, 'Mom we've got to leave.'

Bryan Brown added: "It's an annoyance, you know, but Mother Nature dumped a trillion gallons of water on the area. You know, what are you going to do?"

Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood was also hit particularly hard. For the first time ever, crews sandbagged Foster Avenue all the way to Kedzie. The unprecedented flood waters were caused by record rainfall and locks which were opened in at the mouth of the North Shore Channel in Wilmette to relieve the pressure there.

By Tuesday, conditions in Albany Park were returning to normal. City Office of Emergency Management and Communications spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez said Tuesday that only nine people in Albany Park spent the night at an area shelter, down from 40 the night before.

The Chicago River overflowed its banks in the Northwest Side community during record rainfall.

Martinez said power been restored to most of the 340 homes worst hit by flooding. She said the city's health department continues to offer tetanus shots to Albany Park residents. 

Damage estimates were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, Illinois State Police confirm that the Bishop Ford has been re-opened in both directions. But the Borman Expressway (Interstate 80-94) is still closed in Northwest Indiana.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum, Dorothy Tucker, Anne State and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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