FEMA tours Northwest suburbs to assess flood damage
The Federal Emergency Management Agency damage assessment team started exploring the worst storm damage in Northwest suburban Cook County Tuesday by concentrating on Des Plaines, which was clobbered by both flooding and severe wind damage.
Members of both FEMA and its Illinois equivalent visited residents on Big Bend Drive, businesses near the Des Plaines River and the Methodist Camp Ground on Algonquin Road to assess the extent of problems.
Some people told of being simply victims of circumstance. Others vented pent-up frustrations at the lack of anti-flooding improvements to the river.
Suzy Pattulo's basement on Big Bend Drive was looking neat and empty 12 days after the storm. That's because all the little relics and mementos that filled its corners and closets had been moved upstairs to fill her living and dining rooms.
Pattulo's two sump pumps normally keep her house dry, and she was prepared for the power outage with her own portable generator. But when its battery failed, she was literally sunk.
"It wasn't anything like Katrina, but it was our little disaster," she said.
Of great interest to FEMA was the plight of Pattulo's 89-year-old father, who lived down the street.
When he moved in three years ago, both father and daughter bought insurance for his house. In the process of trying to straighten out the double-coverage, he was left without flood insurance at all.
FEMA's reason for visiting the area was to look for people and damage that fell through the cracks of aid being provided by others. The rest of the week is not set in stone, but the FEMA team said they thought they'd be in Park Ridge today.
Mike Spiel, deputy director of Des Plaines' community and economic development department, said looking after the elderly and indigent is also of particular importance to the city in such crises.
But even with the problems suffered as a result of powerless sump pumps, Spiel was satisfied ComEd tried to restore electricity to the area as soon as possible.
Less happy was Dave Higgins, who lives on Junior Terrace. City, state and federal assessors listened to his opinion of the recent flooding -- he says that engineering solutions to the river flooding are well past due.
"This is 2007," he said. "We have the technology. Let's get it done."
Ray Hund, general manager of the Methodist Campground on Algonquin Road, was curious if any of the summer houses on the property will qualify for increased cost of compliance funds.
The campground is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, limiting what changes can occur there.
Hund said ICC funds are supposed to kick in if damage to a structure surpasses half of its value. None of the summer houses has ever sold for much more than $20,000. But the cost of elevating them, as one has already been, are $30,000 to $40,000.
The damage to one house has led to a recommendation for almost every aspect -- from its floors to its door jambs to its appliances -- to be replaced.
"We have two options here, they either go up or come down," Hund said.
FEMA public affairs spokesman Dick Gifford said his agency's mission is limited to helping provide relief from the recent storm to those not already receiving any. Improvements to protect against persistent problems would go beyond that scope.