Fox Valley residents begin cleaning up after flood
When the weekend rains came, Michael Thomas drove to his mother-in-law's southeast Elgin home to help fight the rising water.
Sewage was rising from a first-floor pipe, so the Hanover Park man connected that to a pump to get propel the waste right back out of the home in the 500 block of Willard Avenue.
"We had some major issues," Thomas recalled. "We're in good shape now. As it came in, we kept pumping it back out. My mother-in-law has been here almost 20 years and she never had a problem like this."
Other homeowners in Elgin and the Fox Valley area weren't so lucky and spent Monday salvaging what they could from flooded basements, assembling large trash piles and being grateful the rains had subsided for at least a day.
People from nearly 25 homes had to be evacuated in the wake of the storm, possibly one of the largest deluges in the city's history.
As of late Monday afternoon, police said, a spate of roads and intersections remained closed: Varsity Drive between Woodview Circle and Maroon Drive; Kirk and Kramer avenues; Kirk and Getty Street; Olive Street and Willard, Olive and Sadler Avenue; Villa and Ramona Avenue; Lucille; Villa and Sandler and Willard between Villa and Chicago Street. For updates, visit cityofelgon.org.
The police also set up a hotline at (847) 289-2678 if people have questions about flood repairs or utility concerns. Department spokeswoman Anne Dinges said the number would be answered at all hours.
City spokeswoman Susan Olafson said beginning Wednesday and running through Sept. 26, residents in flooded areas may dispose damaged items without buying separate garbage stickers. Pickup will be on regular trash collection days.
Overall, the city's southeast side has more than 170 flooded homes. Other areas of the city were hit as well, but not as hard.
Ruben Rivera's home backs up to a creek just north of Willard. The creek, normally about five feet wide, swelled to about 40 feet across, flooded homes and knocked out a wooden bridge.
The crawlspace in Rivera's home got flooded, but only old clothes and pictures were damaged. "We're blessed," he said.
Over the weekend, South Elgin officials also braced for extreme flooding.
Deputy Fire Chief Bill Sohn said problems occurred with detention and retention ponds overflowing, not necessarily the Fox River jumping its banks.
"We evacuated a couple families. Most families chose to stay in their homes," he said.
South Elgin fire officials also assisted Elgin authorities at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday after a woman and her 11-year-old called police to say a person had fallen into the Fox River. Dinges said police did not find anybody and she was unaware of any injuries or deaths caused by the storm.