Cleanup kits coming to Fox Lake
Cleanup kits have been ordered by Fox Lake officials to help people whose homes and businesses were damaged in this month's floods.
Ed Lescher, head of the Fox Lake Emergency Services Disaster Agency, said the kits will be distributed to people later in the week.
He said the kits come with a bucket, a mop, disinfectants, deodorizers and other items needed to help rid homes of mold and mildew common with flooding.
"The water dropped a couple of inches, and should continue dropping throughout the day," he said this morning. "But, we hear rain is coming, so we'll have to wait that out and hope for the best."
The National Weather Service forecasted a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and into the evening.
In Gurnee, the Des Plaines River has been slowly receding since the weekend.
When measured at 7:15 a.m. Sunday in Gurnee, the river was 9.75 feet, above the 7-foot flood stage. The river was at 8.58 feet at 8:30 a.m. today.
Village officials said the Des Plaines River typically rises a foot if an inch of rain falls while it's swollen.
Gurnee's assistant to the village administrator, Patrick Muetz, said officials are asking residents and business to not remove sandbags until notified early next week.
He said business owners in the typical flood zone along Old Grand Avenue east of Route 132 should just remove the bags from the front of their shops to accommodate customers.
"We don't want people to remove sandbags and then us scramble to get them back up," Muetz said today.
Kilbourne Road, Emerald Avenue and Old Grand are open to traffic.
Water levels throughout the Fox River and Chain O' Lakes also dropped overnight.
New Munster, Wis., is down to about 13.25 feet above normal, while Fox Lake is at 6.79 feet above normal levels.
New Munster remains above flood stage, but only by 3 feet. Fox Lake is about 1.5 feet above flood stage.
Water, however, remains on the pavement in all low-lying areas around the Chain. Some 400 homeowners and business owners remain flooded and are still waiting for water to recede.
"Let's get past this rain and go from there," Lescher said.