Relief as river begins to recede

With the shores of the Des Plaines River halfway down his driveway, all Tom Hooper can do is wait.

The back half of his property in the flood-prone Big Bend Drive neighborhood of Des Plaines is under feet of water, as is his detached garage and his basement.

Hooper measured 6 inches of water in his basement Thursday night. By Sunday, he was pumping out 8 ½ feet of water.

"I just lost everything," Hooper said. "All I can do is wait."

It's an odd sight, considering many of the other 46 houses along Big Bend Drive didn't even have wet lawns. Hooper's house isn't the closest to the river, but it's the lowest.

This is the fourth flood Hooper has had to cope with in the eight years he's lived on Big Bend Drive. But the floods in 2000, 2001 and 2004 paled in comparison, he said.

"This is the worst," he said, as his 6-year-old daughter Kimberly watched the fish jump and splash just feet away. "But today is actually a lot better."

Just 24 hours before, the water was still flowing from his property and flooding the street. The Des Plaines River crested Friday at 8.59 feet and power was restored to the neighborhood Saturday, so the focus is now on the cleanup.

Lisa Wodek, who lives three doors down from Hooper, said she and the other people living in the cul-de-sac were spared any flooding. Their houses are at a slightly higher elevation, and that's made all the difference.

"I'm relieved the river stopped where it did," she said. "Yesterday all you heard was the roar of generators."

Gene Hollingsworth, who also lives a few houses down from Hooper, wasn't as lucky as Wodek. Despite a sump pump and a backup, his basement was flooded with 3 feet of water.

"Once the power went out the water raced in," he said. "I will buy a generator. This won't happen again."

The retired physician surveyed the damage: a meat-filled freezer collapsed on its side, furniture his grandchildren were storing, a safe filled with an extensive gun collection, a broken furnace, air conditioner and water heater, all the medical files from his practice. The list goes on.

In a drier part of town away from the river, the American Red Cross has been manning a makeshift relief area at the Prairie Lakes Community Center since Friday.

Volunteer Fred Pampel of Mount Prospect said about a dozen residents have come in for food, water, cleaning kits and air conditioning. No one has asked to spend the night, but the Red Cross brought a truck filled with cots just in case.

A serene All Saints Cemetery on River Road still shows traces of Thursday's storms, with tape blocking off sections with overturned gravestones and snapped trees.

Further south, building mounds of carpets, couches and other sewage-soaked trash lined the curbs of a Park Ridge neighborhood.

Tina O'Donnell and an army of seven friends and family members donned rubber gloves at her home on Goodwin Drive. The teacher has been staying at a friend's since her basement became filled with 3 feet of foul-smelling water.

The power to her house finally came back on during the cleanup effort at noon, nearly 72 hours after it was lost. The water in her basement receded on its own, and she was relieved to hear that the river, about a quarter of a mile west, was going down.

Despite the positive news, O'Donnell remains frustrated with the city's response. She said that when she called city hall about sandbags, she was told five was the limit.

"What good would that have done?" O'Donnell says. "And it would be nice to know what's going on. Other people got notes in their mailboxes. I haven't."