A flood of volunteers help hold waters back

As water in the Chain O' Lakes continues to rise ominously, officials say it would be easier to predict the next few days if they actually knew how much water is coming from Wisconsin.

But, the water gauges up north have become "unreliable," say officials with the Stormwater Management Commission, because the gauges in New Munster, Wis. top out at 15 feet -- and the water already is higher than that.

That means local leaders won't know what to expect until it gets here.

Meanwhile, in Gurnee, there was hope Friday that the floodwaters will be quelled by the massive volunteer effort to sandbag homes and businesses near the Des Plaines River.

They are hoping it will save the village from the same kind of disaster it sustained in 2004, when flood damage was estimated at $1.2 million.

"Our hope is the crest will be lower than projected," C. Kent McKenzie, Lake County's emergency management coordinator, said Friday evening.

The Des Plaines River was expected to crest early this morning in Gurnee at 9 feet, 8 inches -- although that may be lower as predicted storms didn't materialize Friday.

McKenzie said more than 300,000 sand bags were distributed throughout the county. More than 500 volunteers filled and placed sandbags in Gurnee over the last two days, including more than 200 volunteers from Great Lakes Naval Station.

By 2:30 p.m. Friday the preventive action for the 60 to 80 most "at-risk" buildings was finished.

"Every business, every home, every building is sandbagged," Mayor Kristina Kovarik said Friday evening.

Over at the Chain O' Lakes, the water was first expected to crest Thursday night, after water levels in New Munster hit 14.8 feet above normal.

But Rasto Urazda, a watershed engineer from the Stormwater Management Commission, said the lakes could rise another 12-16 inches before water levels crest over the weekend.

Officials at the Stratton Lock and Dam in McHenry said 7,524 cubic feet per second is coming into the Chain from up north, while 5,683 cubic feet per second is being sent down river from dams in McHenry and Algonquin.

John Palmieri, a lockmaster with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said given the overload, the dams are working as well as they possibly can.

"It all depends on how much we are able to release down river," he said. "And right now, we're releasing as much as we can."

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"In my stay-at-home mom group, we're all calling each other to come down," said Sara Thigpen, of Gurnee as she shepherded her 4- and 6-year-old daughters and two friends toward the sand pile on the banks of the Des Plaines River.

"It's like a family thing over here."

Volunteers from around the region -- as far away as Palatine -- answered the call for help put out through a Gurnee area network of municipal organizations, businesses and other community sources, even athletic teams.

Volunteers by the hundreds continued to sign up Friday at the staging area in the north parking lot of Warren Township High School's O'Plaine campus.

"We registered well over 200 yesterday and it looks like we'll beat that by quite a bit," said Diane Logsdon, the volunteer coordinator with Lake County Emergency Management Agency. By 11:30 a.m. Friday 240 new volunteers had registered, "and those numbers don't include the military," she added.

This is the first year a state system to direct volunteers was set up, Logsdon said.

As well, Great Lakes offered an impressive group of volunteers. Naval officers and new recruits volunteered alongside citizens from the area.

"No one was ordered to come out here. We had to turn people away because there were so many," said Ali Nelson, command master chief for Navy Region Midwest.

Mayor Kovarik said one Kilbourne Road woman took a whole day to sandbag her house in 2004, but on Friday had it done in 20 minutes by two dozen sailors.

Many of the small businesses, including the Grand Animal Hospital, along low-lying Old Grand Avenue were closed in anticipation of the coming water.

Larry's Barber Shop has a sign in the window telling customers it moved to higher ground.

Several businesses were protected by a massive network of double-walled sand bags, some stacked three feet high, covered with protective plastic and backed up by 100-gallon a minute pumps.

"We figured 10,000 bags -- around this building alone," said Fred Rickert, a maintenance contractor. "It's all you can do."

He said the height of the wall topped out about three feet because beyond that, there would be no stopping a torrent that could crumble walls.

The village supplied the sand, local businesses supplied equipment and volunteers the manpower.

Further south on the Des Plaines, a mile-long levee in the unincorporated North Libertyville Estates subdivision is being constantly monitored but is said to be holding up well.

"The water level there is four feet or more below the top of the levee," McKenzie said.

The 1950s-era subdivision was built in a bowl along the river and for years was a perennial flood spot. The earthen levy, which is 12 feet thick in spots, was built as a result of the disastrous 1986 floods.

So far, it is working as designed and residents do not expect any flooding.

Crews in Libertyville and Lincolnshire have sandbags available today but did not report any major problems. Village officials expect the crest late Saturday or early Sunday but expect it to be less intrusive than the 2004 flood.

Libertyville's nine-hole golf course has been closed since Monday due to high water and is likely to be closed for another week or so, according to James Zych, director of parks and recreation.

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Antioch and Fox Lake emergency directors said about 300 homes in Antioch, Lake Villa and Grant townships are affected by the flooding on the Chain and Fox River.

"We will do all we can to stay on top of this," said Ed Lescher, director of Emergency Services Disaster Agency in Fox Lake. "If it keeps going up, we'll keep making sandbags and stay with it."

More subdivisions found themselves fighting off the water Friday, as almost every side street off Grand Avenue had water standing on the pavement.

The hardest areas hit are Kings Island subdivision, Atwater Park and Knollwood subdivision off Route 59.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich toured Knollwood Park Friday as he declared the counties of Lake, McHenry, Cook and Kane state disaster areas.

The designation means local governments can expect state aid to help offset the costs of labor and materials needed to fight the flooding.

He was accompanied by Fox Lake Mayor Cindy Irwin and Antioch Mayor Dorothy Larson.

Blagojevich implored people who have been hit the hardest to keep a "stiff upper lip attitude" to fight the high water.

"I'm mindful of the resiliency of the people affected in the flooded areas," he said. "Help one another get through this."