Fox River flood damage surveyed

Gerald Panczko didn't expect to see people with notepads nosing around his Algonquin Shores neighborhood Wednesday, much less the man standing at his front door step."You obviously got wet," said Vincent Bucci, a damage assessor from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Let me ask you something #8230;"Bucci then engaged Panczko in a routine he'd repeated with several homeowners living along flood-damaged portions of Kane County.Do they live in a flood zone?Do they have flood insurance?Could he see the damage to their homes from rain storms that swept through the Chicago area on Sept. 23?Check, check and check.Bucci joined a team of disaster response officials from federal, state and local agencies touring flood-damaged sites along the Fox River.It was the second straight day of tours in Kane, one of six Illinois counties declared state disaster areas by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.Led by Don Bryant, director of Kane County's Office of Emergency Management, the team was one of six visiting the state's storm-ravaged areas this week to determine whether homeowners could qualify for federal relief.Panczko's Dundee Township neighborhood still showed the effects of last month's storms.His brick home sits near the edge of Winaaki Trail, a winding, tree-lined street adjacent to a portion of the Fox River.The air carried the scent of a neighborhood still trying to dry out.Garbage placed in front of some homes included water-logged carpeting, and many homes had sandbags covering basement windows or the edges of backyards backing up to the river.Panczko said neighbors were often seen floating along his street in boats in the days after the storms Panczko's house, which sits at a higher elevation, was spared from the waters. Still, he asked Bucci why neighbors were having so much trouble getting permits to raise the elevations of their homes."I was asking the questions he didn't know," Panczko said. "Nobody's got the answers."The nearby Richardson subdivision, near West Dundee, was hit even harder. The front and side yards of many homes still carried standing water, and mosquitoes were quick to feast on anybody standing still.The waters submerged the front doorsteps of Colleen Linder's home. Deer tracks and boot prints still dot her muddy front yard, but she counts herself lucky.Flood waters submerged a next-door neighbor's car."I suppose it could be a lot worse," she said.The disaster relief officials expect to return to Kane County next week to assess the damages on area roads, bridges, parks and other public property. 512355mall Business Administration construction analyst Justin Johnson walks on sandbags Wednesday while Cheryl Menossi and Ed Stagen of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency checks out flood damage at a home in Dundee Township.Brian Hill | Staff Photographer