Wade, watch, worry as Des Plaines River rises

As she stares out into the water surrounding her Des Plaines summer cottage, Pat Green makes a decision.

"Everything I own is in there," the 74-year-old Chicago woman says. "I have to go get it."

On top of her boots, she hikes up black garbage bags to try to stay dry. Slowly, she wades through the waist-deep flood water and finally makes it to the front porch.

A quick thumbs-up tells everyone watching that she's safe.

Green quickly goes inside to collect her bank statements, specialty cat food and bills before making the journey back more than 100 feet.

Although her cottage sits on the Des Plaines Methodist Campground, an area always prone to flooding, it's something new to her.

"I haven't had a drop of water in there for the past 10 years," she says.

Scenes like this were common across Des Plaines on Friday, as residents waited, watched and worried.

According to the National Weather Service, the Des Plaines River was reported at 8.56 feet in the afternoon. It is projected to crest at 9.6 feet early this morning.

The record crest in Des Plaines is 10.88 feet, set in 1986.

Thousands in the suburb were without power Friday, which made traffic slow on almost all major roads.

Many streets near the river are under water, and homeowners and volunteers helped place sandbags around houses.

Flatbed trucks carried cars still with tree stumps smashed through the windows as a result of Thursday's violent storms.

Motorists had bulky generator boxes sticking out from their trunks along with cases of bottled water.

Water was creeping up near the house of Donna Tworek, who lives with her family on Junior Terrace.

"If it's coming, it's coming," she said. "Sandbagging isn't going to do a thing."

Instead, she enlisted family members to come over and move everything from her basement upstairs.

The family room sits jammed with couches, extra food, wood doors and giant packs of toilet paper stacked to the ceiling.

"The warning was not enough," she said. "I wasn't prepared for this at all."

Her kids and others in the neighborhood played on the soaked street, running through the water and laughing the afternoon away.

Even though the water hasn't made it to Merv Karl's home, he has a view of the rising river and the constant hum of a generator in his garage.

"I just keep going to the gas station to get gas for the generator," said Karl, a 25-year-resident on East Campbell Avenue.

At Christ Church, hundreds of volunteers helped fill sandbags for residents. It was one site out of 13 where the city dropped off bags and sand.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will tour the area today with Mayor Tony Arredia.

A shelter for the city has been established at Prairie Lakes Community Center, 515 E. Thacker St.

Residents can report flooding to the Des Plaines Emergency Management Agency as it occurs. Call (847) 391-5396 for additional information.