Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (AP) ― Boats laden with evacuees navigated flooded Chicago streets as volunteers in the suburbs sandbagged buildings near swollen rivers Sunday in efforts to hold off rising floodwaters caused by the weekend's record rains.

Several Chicago-area rivers, including the Des Plaines, Fox, Kankakee and Little Calumet, were at or above flood stage on Sunday, threatening homes, businesses and schools, the National Weather Service said.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger declared a county-wide state of emergency on Sunday, and officials said they would ask Gov. Rod Blagojevich to issue a disaster declaration for both the city of Chicago and Cook County, a move that would make additional funds available to deal with flood-related costs.

In a statement released Sunday, Blagojevich said he directed staff from the state's Emergency Operations Center to monitor flooding and facilitate resource requests from officials in flooded communities.

Maggie Carson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said requests for assistance were relatively few. Officials in Morgan and Cass counties sought the loan of pumps and generators. Several communities asked for sandbags and barricades to block flooded road, Carson said.

In central Illinois, the weather service issued a flood warning for the Illinois River at Henry affecting Marshall and Putnam counties and the Illinois River affecting Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties.

Peoria firefighters responded to about 70 weather-related emergencies over the weekend, ranging from electrical fires in flooded basements to car accidents, Battalion Chief Mike Morrow told the (Peoria) Star Journal.

"Basements are flooding that have never flooded before," Morrow said. "And there are streets where the drainage systems stopped working and water is pouring down the streets."

A small army of volunteers in Des Plaines, just northwest of Chicago, were fighting a pitched battle Sunday against the rising Des Plaines River, said city spokesman Will Soderberg.

"We're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best," he said.

For Des Plaines resident Nick Pistolas, the flooding turned what is normally a five-minute drive to visit his daughter into a 90-minute odyssey as streets closed because of flooding and standing water several feet deep forced detour after detour.

"I've never seen it this bad," Pistolas said.

In suburban Naperville, workers sandbagged some buildings downtown as the DuPage River overflowed its banks. Water levels rose Sunday morning after gates of Fawell Dam were opened to help prevent flooding upstream, the city of Naperville's Web site said.

There was also sandbagging in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, where dump trucks full of sand helped with makeshift the barriers to hold back water spilling from the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Nearby parking lots "look like fishing ponds," said Jose Villegas, an employee of GT's Fast Food in the area. Most customers on Sunday, he said, were city workers "getting a quick bite and trying to get a little dry."

Work crews placed about 30,000 sandbags along the rain-swollen Chicago River, which remained two feet above normal Sunday morning, said John Spatz, commissioner of the city's Water Management Department.

Nearly 350 Albany Park homes were affected and at least 40 residents in the North Side community were evacuated by boat, said John Brooks, the city's fire commissioner.

Jennifer Martinez, spokeswoman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communication, said firefighters were conducting house inspections before utility workers entered cleared buildings to disconnect electric and natural gas service.

Martinez said the city was urging evacuated residents not to return to their homes until they are pumped free of water.

Des Plaines also evacuated several families from their homes over the weekend, though Soderberg said he could not provide an exact number.

Des Plaines issued a voluntary evacuation order for some low-lying areas -- a notice on the city's Web site said "the City cannot guarantee the safety of residents should they remain in their residences."

Saturday's rainfall of 6.64 inches at O'Hare International Airport set a new record for a single calendar day. The previous record was 6.49 inches, recorded on Aug. 14, 1987. Climate records for Chicago date from 1871.

In South Elgin, which is along the Fox River, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Crum was recovering Sunday from hours of grunt work the previous day filling sandbags at the village's public works center.

Home with family for the weekend from his duty station at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Crum said many neighbors have a foot or more of standing water in their backyards.

"But the water, for now anyway, appears to have leveled off," he said. "And the sandbags appear to be holding."

Flooding also made travel along Chicago area roads and highways difficult.

The Bishop Ford Expressway -- a major link between Northwest Indiana and Chicago -- was closed Sunday because of flooding, said Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said.

O'Hare International Airport was operating normally by Sunday morning, a day after dozens of flights were canceled due to the weather, said Richard Rodriguez, commissioner of the city aviation department.

But Sunday's rains forced cancellation of several Amtrak trains out of Chicago. The Lincoln Service and Texas Eagle, Chicago-to-Springfield, Ill.,to-St. Louis were canceled. Also canceled were Amtrak trains to Detroit and service to Kansas City and St. Louis.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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