Aug 7, 2007 7:15 pm US/Central
Water Recedes After Worst Storm In Century
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman, Kris Habermehl and Rafael Romo contributed to this report.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (CBS) ―
Water finally started to recede in Woodstock and other northwest suburbs late Tuesday after nearly 5 inches of rain poured down in a matter of two hours.
CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports it was the worst storm the area has seen in the last century.
Many roads were flooded and as many as 200 houses have flood damage.
"This has never happened to me before and my husband built the house in '53 and we've never had water in it before," Woodstock resident Claota Calvert said.
Joe Campbell woke up at 3:30 in the morning to find his basement flooded with four feet of water.
"The washer, dryer, the fridge, the freezer are all floating on their sides. The cabinet, I built that in high school, it was floating around, falling apart," Campbell said.
The fire and public works departments spent the day answering calls and pumping water out of basements as fast as they could.
"Everything floating, just everything is tore up: streets, everything. And I feel bad for these people… you know, it's too bad. We're going to do whatever we can to help them," public works employee Brandon Eddy said.
Fire chief Ralph Webster says a transformer that sends power to a pumping station was hit by lightning, which complicated the problem.
"I've lived in Woodstock for 44 years, my entire life. I've been on the fire department for 24 and I've never seen anything that would come close to this," Webster said.
The Woodstock Fire Department is reporting no injuries but two families lost their dogs Tuesday morning when they were electrocuted in their basements.
Flooding Caused Big Problems For Morning Drivers U.S. 41 beyond the split from the Edens Expressway in Lake County was especially hard hit Tuesday morning, with some underpasses inundated by as much as five feet of water. Parts of Route 41 were shut down completely in both directions in Lake Forest, and motorists were turning around due to flooded underpasses.
By 6:30 a.m., the flooded stretches of U.S. 41 had been reopened, and officials said pumps were working and the water was being drained away. But that was not enough for some motorists. A delivery man said he had been driving in circles because of all the flooding.
In the far west suburbs, some people were stranded on the roadways. CBS 2's Kris Habermehl was on the scene directing traffic and conducting emergency rescues in far west suburban Hampshire.
"I actually had to help close the road over on Route 72 just a little bit west of Route 47. There was a van stuck in the roadway there, a woman inside without a cell phone, and motorists that were trying to get out of the water there and didn't exactly know where to go," Habermehl said. "So I waded into the water as far as I dared – there's a pretty good current there – and being experienced in the tenets of swift water rescue, not wanting to go any further, we elected to get a larger vehicle in order to effect that rescue."
"Do what you can and be exceedingly careful before the sun comes up this morning, because folks, that water will come up with you," Habermehl said. "It's black, just like the sky. You're not going to be able to see it until you are in it, and by that time, it may be too late."
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