'Perfect Storm' hitting Rogers Park lakefront beaches

Lazy ripples rolled across the lake in front of Barbara Westfield's condominium, with only the distant smudge of a passing motorboat disturbing the quiet.

A heap of sandbags at the bottom of some outside steps told another story; so did the polycarbonate shields covering Westfield's hurricane windows. A few hundred feet to the north, shattered concrete slabs tilted. Retaining walls looked ready to buckle.

"It's like 'Titanic,' 'The Meg' and 'The Perfect Storm' all rolled into one," said Westfield, referring to a trio of movies depicting ocean disasters. Westfield has lived in her second-floor Rogers Park condo, just south of Juneway Beach, since 1994.

Waves booming against her windows - some loud enough to awaken her from slumber - are a fact of life here. In the past, they came once or twice a year. Now, thanks to near-record-high lake levels, the waves come every two weeks or so, she said.

City crews planned to begin arranging boulders Monday to help protect the lakefront until they can come up with a more permanent solution. The work is expected to last four to five weeks at each site, city officials said. They did not have a cost estimate for what they called "emergency work."

Alderman Maria Hadden, whose ward includes Juneway and Rogers beaches, said she doesn't have an exact price tag either, but that "it's a couple million dollars worth of work at least."

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