Dec 27, 2008 10:13 pm US/Central
Chicago Area Deals With Weather Woes
Residents Deal With Flooding Problems
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Water in its many forms has wreaked havoc on the area and this weekend is no exception.
For residents along the Des Plaines River, it's been a long, hard Saturday.
Homeowners are stacking sandbags, preparing for the worst. Many are still rebuilding after flooding ravaged the area in September.
"The water, as I said, was up maybe up to the windows if not higher on that first floor right here. So yeah…they just put all brand new wooden floors and everything that we heard earlier today. So they're going to lose it all again," said resident Linda Conley.
Conley says the September flooding pushed her to move from her apartment. She understands the fears of those living near the water's edge.
"I live on Lincoln, which is a block and a half over and I had over three feet of water in my apartment," Conley said.
Officials say the September floods drained Cook County and its residents of some $64 million. Now, here in Riverside, village leaders have called for a voluntary evacuation of some 140 homes, including apartments.
"We're asking them to go to a relative's house or a friend's house for the evening until this situation subsides," said Riverside Fire Department Deputy Chief Matt Buckley.
Cook County is helping surrounding communities with some 65 tons of sand and 26,000 sandbags, but they realize it may not be enough.
"We believe that because we're having rain coming later tonight, that there's a possibility we may have to declare it a disaster area. At this point, we are just monitoring," said Todd Stroger Jr.
"We're holding out until the end to see what happens," said Claudia, one area resident.
But the water-wrinkled remnants one family still holds, tell the story of just how much this family lost three months ago.
"House, our office, laundry room - everything's gone," she said.
They want to see a berm, or mound meant to contain the river, extended so that water can't get around it so easily.
"We're very upset with this. So we're trying to come down to brass tacks to see why they can't finish putting it in. I mean wouldn't it save? Wouldn't prevention help?" Claudia said.
CBS 2 talked to a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. She says that agency took charge of area watersheds four years ago and that the agency is in the early stages of creating a comprehensive flood control plan.
The Des Plaines River is expected to peak at over 10 feet in Riverside.
Team members of the town's emergency command center plan to meet around the clock until the river crests and while they analyze weather maps and monitor potential flood zones. Across town, the sheriff's work alternative program was put to use as young men fulfilled their community service requirements by serving in a sandbag brigade.
"We're reviewing water levels, what they should be and what we should be doing in the meantime," said Des Plaines mayor Tony Arredia.
In River Forest, it wasn't muscle power but heavy equipment that built the flood wall at Chicago Avenue and Thatcher, but Chicago Avenue had to be closed from Thatcher to First Avenue because of the rapidly rising water.
The fire department is recommending that people in low lying areas evacuate. It's also why Philip Colleran and other volunteers spent the day trying to move the belongings of their neighbors in basement apartments to upper level units.
"These folks basically lost their lives last time, in terms of everything they owned was trashed," Colleran said.
Residents in garden apartments just finished rehabbing a few days ago. They just moved in their washer and dryer, but Saturday they were moving them to higher ground.
Meanwhile, over in the Western suburbs, at the corner of Portsmouth and Gladstone in Westchester, virtually everyone on the block says their basement has been flooded. CBS 2 caught up with one resident, who says at the height of the storm, he had water so high, it was over his knee.
"Annoying is the word – annoying and tired," said homeowner Greg Vaupell.
Vaupell says he hasn't slept in 24 hours. He came home from his job as a tow truck operator to water in his basement.
"They won't open or close the drainage, so we suffer," Vaupell said.
He's referring to the deep tunnel.
Vaupell went to the center of his street and opened the storm drain and saw water.
"There should be no water in here – nothing," Vaupell said. "Nothing should be in this thing at all, but you can see you've got more than enough water in there – that should be empty."
The Village of Westchester says it is aware of the problem and during heavy rain, the storm sewers do till to capacity. Among the things residents are told to do to stop flooding is clear yard waste that can prevent drainage.
Vaupell says there's another problem. A lot of the storm drains in the community have been covered with snow. He's been taking a lot of his own time, just clearing the snow away, so the water can go somewhere.
"The drainage was all covered; there's nowhere for it to go but in the house," Vaupell said.
In the house and in his backyard, close to half a foot of water was in his basement making it look like a small pond.
Vaupell said what concerns him even more is even more rain is expected in Westchester.
In Schaumburg, Rodenburg Road at Irving Park Road is completely under water and closed for quite a stretch. Parts of several other low-lying roads are also shut down, including part of Mall Drive near Woodfield Mall.
Meanwhile, folks on Chicago's Northwest side are hoping the water will recede.
Crews started sandbagging Friday along the Chicago River in Albany Park, trying to protect nearby homes.
Right now, the river is rising about a half-inch an hour. But it's nowhere near the level it was back in September when dozens of homes in the neighborhood were damaged.
Still, it's an anxious wait for families living closest to the river's edge.
City officials are monitoring the situation and will be back with more sandbags if necessary.
"We live right on the corner. We're kind of concerned that the river is going to come up over and flood the basements in the area because it's happened a few times over the last year," said resident Robert Young.
"It's getting close, very close," said resident Melanie Young. "The people that live behind us, they just redid their home after throwing things away."
While many residents are still holding their breath about rising water levels, those around the Kankakee River are breathing a sigh of relief Saturday evening. The flooding predicted for the area along the Kankakee River near southwest suburban Wilmington hasn't amounted to much.
An ice jam on the river broke apart Saturday morning, lowering the water level and sending chunks of ice floating downstream.
"For all practical purposes, the jam has left the area," said Harold Damron, director of the Will County Emergency Management Agency.
The water level in the Kankakee River dropped about four feet in about an hour, which alleviated the flood concern this afternoon.
But the National Weather Service is predicting the river will rise again because of the inflow of melted snow and rain, Damron said.
"I wouldn't want to say we're out of the woods, but definitely the situation has improved," he said.
At 10 a.m. the National Weather Service reported moderate flooding in Wilmington and minor flooding in Bolingbrook, said Jeremy Hylka, director of the Joliet Weather Center.
Minor flooding closed several roads in Bolingbrook this morning, including the Lily Cache Road between Schmidt Road and Orchard Drive; and Remington Blvd. between Schmidt Road and Territorial Court.
Bolingbrook public-works crews are in the area working to clear storm-sewer drains, said Brian Pepich, Bolingbrook fire battalion chief.
Stretches of Boughton Road and Rodeo Drive have reopened after being closed by flooding earlier today, Pepich said.
What to Expect
Due to runoff from melting snow and the heavy rain that is moving into the area, a flood warning is in effect for several Illinois counties, including Cook, DeKalb, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. The warning will remain in effect until 1 p.m. Sunday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Marsili.
A flood warning remains in effect for the Des Plaines, Fox, Iroquois and Kankakee rivers until Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Rainfall on Saturday along with combined snow melt has resulted in the rise of many rivers across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. At 7:45 p.m. Saturday, the Des Plaines River water level was recorded at 5.9 feet, 9 inches above the flood stage.
The river is expected to continue to rise to near eight feet by Sunday afternoon.
Some flood warnings and wind advisories will continue as late as Monday near some rivers, the weather service said.
Storms caused damage to buildings and downed tree limbs and power lines. Winds knocked out power to 63,600 ComEd customers Saturday, according to ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick. Of those, 55,000 had power restored by Saturday evening, and 164 crews were working to restore service to the remaining 8,600. More than 1,743 Chicago customers are without power and 278 customers remain in the dark in the north suburbs as of 8:20 p.m., according to ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick.
In the south suburban region, 726 customers are facing outages, as well as 4 customers in the west suburbs, Burdick said.
About 300 in southern Illinois were also still without service. More than 12,000 Ameren customers in central and southern Illinois were also without power Saturday evening.
"We've had various outages throughout the day because of gusty weather, not so much the rain," Burdick said.
According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts as high as 40 mph are expected to continue throughout the night.
Saturday, rain could turn to snow showers as temperatures drop sharply after midnight, with lows around 30 degrees. Snow is possible after 3 a.m., according to the weather service.
The volatile weather forecast could mean that holiday travelers hoping to catch a flight out of Chicago's airports may encounter more cancellations and delays like those that persisted Friday night and Saturday morning.
At O'Hare International Airport, more than 150 flights have been canceled as of 8:30 p.m. Saturday due to weather conditions in the Chicago area and weather affecting airports on the East Coast. In addition, O'Hare was reporting 90-minute flight delays, according to a city Dept. of Aviation release. The airport faced more than 400 cancellations Friday night due to "extremely low visibility."
At Midway Airport, following a Friday evening that brought a cancellation of all flights, operations resumed Saturday morning as the dense fog has cleared.
However, as of 8:30 p.m., some flights at Midway were delayed up to 30 minutes and a total of 36 flights were canceled due to aircraft being out of position as a result of Friday's weather, the release said.
The National Weather Service reported Saturday that 2008 has been the wettest year on record for the city of Chicago. So far, we've seen more than 50 inches of rain or snow -- that beats out 1983 when Chicago got 49.3 inches of precipitation.
The American Red Cross is placing shelters in Lyons Township and in the Robins Crestwood area. The American Red Cross is on standby for placing a shelter in the Albany Park neighborhood.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli, Suzanne Le Mignot, Pamela Jones, the STNG Wire and Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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