Geneva's Island Park cleanup nears completion

Imagine cleaning up a flooded basement that is 11.5 acres big.

That's the task the Geneva Park District staff has faced the last 25 days, as it tries to bring Island Park back to normal after the Fox River covered it in August.

"In my 28 years (with the district), that's the worst I've ever seen it," Larry Gabriel, superintendent of parks and properties, told the Geneva park board Monday.

He recapped the damage and the work done to recover. "We're about 90 percent there," Gabriel said.

He gave executive director Steve Persinger props for acting quickly to rent portable chain-link fencing to close off the park at both bridges Aug. 23. That protected people from themselves, Gabriel said. With the island walls obscured by water, people could have easily accidentally stepped into the river.

People might have wondered why the park was closed so long. Looking through the chain-link a week after the flooding, it looked like the path through the park was dry. What they probably couldn't see was the depression in the center of the park, near the main pavilion, was still under water. It's gone, but it's taken a while for the ground to dry.

"We can't even drive a truck in there," Gabriel said.

About 40 percent of the turf will need to be heavily overseeded this fall.

Flood waters reached the top step of the pavilion, park workers shut electricity off to the whole park and closed the pavilion bathrooms.

Garbage barrels were full of silt and dead fish, and picnic tables were covered in silt.

All the wood-chip safety surface underneath the playground equipment - 90 cubic yards - was swept away by the river. It's been replaced and the equipment disinfected.

Crews have been fixing the erosion that happened behind the island wall on the west side of the park, replacing stone, soil and landscaping fabric. They haven't assessed the eastern walls yet.

A worker in waders removed debris that clogged the arches of the south bridge Saturday.

One tree blew over in the storm and fell partially into the river. It will stay there until the ground freezes before a tree-service truck can get in there to remove it.