Des Plaines expected to hit high water mark this morning
Sometime this morning, the Des Plaines River is expected to crest at 5.9 feet, which is nine-tenths of a foot over flood stage, according to National Weather Service spokesman Jason Puma.
At about 1 p.m. Sunday, the river reached 5.82 feet.
"It's going to rise just a little bit more before it starts to begin to fall," Puma said. "Essentially, it's going to be in the flood stage, it looks like, through at least Wednesday. It's going to be a slow, gradual type of fall."
Although the Des Plaines River is at flood stage, the mood in Des Plaines was calm Sunday.
Des Plaines fire officials said the city was in good shape, while a recorded voice at the Des Plaines Emergency Management Agency number said the city is no longer on emergency status. The message said the operations center was not staffed but is being continually monitored.
Edward Urbanski was working in his garden at home on Junior Terrace Sunday as the river passed by his house.
"When we don't see the city truck here (with the sand), we know we're OK," Urbanski said.
Joel Bremmer, who lives close to the river on Big Bend Drive, said he has experienced basement flooding.
"There is not really too much you can do, except move as much stuff as you can out of the basement," he said.
Fox, Chain level off
Water levels in Wisconsin are leveling off, but on Sunday, the water continued to rise on the Fox River and Chain O'Lakes south of the Wisconsin border.
Fox Lake officials said Sunday that the water has risen about 8 inches so far this weekend, including 2 inches on Sunday. But they expect it to slow down and level off today.
About 50 homes in Fox Lake have water on their lawns while a dozen others have some sort of property damage to their house because of the high water.
The Chain was 18 inches over flood stage Sunday and about 8 inches past the point where homes start to be damaged.
It's the same story in Antioch, where about 50 homes and businesses are in danger of flooding, but only a half dozen have sustained water damage so far.
Fox Lake will fill sandbags at the street department at about 11 a.m. this morning. The sandbags are to replenish the stock of bags used during the latest flood effort.
Officials in towns along the Fox River, like Carpentersville, East Dundee and West Dundee, said the flooding that hampered Cook and Lake counties Saturday did not affect them.
"The river is a little high but no problems have been reported," said West Dundee paramedic Chris Lee. "There are no problems that we know of and we looked around earlier today. The river is not high enough for flooding."