Flooding causes worry for residents, cities
For the first time in three days, Nick Scheri was taking a break Tuesday from pumping water out of his front yard, trying to keep it from entering his Prospect Heights home.
Flood water crept inches from his house that sits at the lowest point of Forrest Avenue in the Arlington Countryside subdivision. At its highest, the water measured nearly 12 inches deep in his yard.
Scheri says the city upgraded the storm sewer system putting in a 21-inch pipe through part of the subdivision stopping just shy of Rand Road. Every time it rains more than an inch, it spells trouble for Scheri and his neighbors.
"It necks from a 21-inch pipe to a 6-inch pipe," he said. "I got three times more water coming down my way and puddling in front of my house than I had before they put in the new system."
Prospect Heights officials told Scheri the city doesn't have any money or equipment to fix residents' flooding problems.
It's the same story in many suburban towns with low-lying areas often in the middle of neighborhoods.
Though floodwaters have receded since weekend rains, area residents and city officials are keeping a watchful eye toward the sky, bracing for what more rain could do to the Des Plaines River and to other low-lying areas.
In Des Plaines, the river was expected to peak at 6.9 feet at 1 a.m. today, with more rain anticipated overnight. Flood stage is 5 feet, but the river doesn't become a major danger until it gets over 8 feet.
Public works crews and convicted offenders from the Cook County Sheriff's Work Alternative Program have been working around the clock since Sunday filling sandbags, available at four city locations in case water rises higher than expected.
"We will continue to monitor the river and forecasts may change," said Tim Oakley, Des Plaines director of engineering and flood incident commander. "Three more inches is the highest (the river is) going to get, assuming there's no more rain. We're good for another 24 hours."
The water hasn't reached beyond residents' backyards along the river, but city storm sewers that reached capacity caused some street flooding.
Water also has been pooling in isolated areas throughout the city in backyard depressions because the ground is saturated and can't soak up any more rain, Oakley said.
Where backyard flooding is damaging individual homes, residents may be out of luck for a quick response.
Des Plaines has spent more than $2 million for targeted storm sewers in neighborhoods, but that program ends this year due to budget cuts despite a long waiting list of problem drainage sites.
"We have other areas of stormwater management that we have to address," Oakley said, citing overloaded storm sewers that need upgrading "rather than just the wet backyards."