Flood victims can pick up cleaning kits
Cleanup kits have been ordered and garbage pickup rescheduled by Fox Lake officials to help people whose homes and businesses were damaged in last week's floods.
Ed Lescher, head of the Fox Lake Emergency Services Disaster Agency, said the kits from the Red Cross will be available on Saturday at Fox Lake Fire Station #2 on Washington Street. He said any homeowner or business owner in a flooded area can pick one up at no cost.
He said the kits come with a bucket, a mop, disinfectants, deodorizers and other items needed to help get rid of mold and mildew common with flooding.
Also, garbage pickup for residents in flooded areas has been rescheduled for Friday. Street department workers will guide a garbage truck through the flooded areas and help waterlogged residents load their trash into the truck.
Water levels on the Fox River and Chain O' Lakes dropped overnight Tuesday.
New Munster, Wis., is down to about 13 feet above normal, while Fox Lake is at 6.75 feet above normal. New Munster remains about 3 feet over flood stage; 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.
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.
Gurnee's assistant to the village administrator, Patrick Muetz, said officials are asking residents and business owners to keep sandbags in place until notified early next week.
He said business owners in the typical flood zone along Old Grand Avenue east of Route 132 should remove only 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 Wednesday.
Kilbourne Road, Emerald Avenue and Old Grand are open to traffic.