Governor declares Cook County a disaster area

Cook County is joining Kane, Lake and McHenry counties as state disaster areas due to widespread flooding, Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Sunday after touring flood damage along the Fox River in Algonquin.

"With floodwaters impacting communities in Cook County, I'm adding the county to the state disaster proclamation to ensure we provide responders the resources they need to continue protecting public health and safety," Rauner said in a news release.

The proclamation makes a variety of state resources available to help communities respond and recover from flooding. Those resources include sandbags, sand, pumps, trucks and other heavy equipment, and other assistance to ensure public safety.

So far, the state has provided 350,000 sandbags to Lake County and 100,000 sandbags to McHenry County, according to the governor's office. On Monday, 50,000 sandbags will be delivered to Kane County. The state is staging another 350,000 sandbags in northern Illinois for quick deployment to communities.

For updates on the current situation, visit the Ready Illinois website at www.ready.illinois.gov.