A week later, Des Plaines calm after storm

A week ago, they were piled atop each other to keep the overflowing Des Plaines River at bay.

On Thursday, they were piled into trucks after a job well done.

Such is the life of a sandbag in Des Plaines.

A week after storms ransacked the area and added to already teeming flood waters, Des Plaines officials on Thursday began the tedious task of collecting about 125,000 sandbags.

Work will continue today to load the sandbags to take to public works sites for disposal, Mayor Tony Arredia said. The collection could take as long as a week.

Arredia thanked the 400 volunteers who helped fill sandbags.

"Crisis always brings everybody together," he said, adding, "it's too bad you have to have a crisis to bring everybody together."

Now, the public works department is seeking volunteers to help collect the sandbags. If you can volunteer, call (847) 391-5396.

Residents are asked to put sandbags out on the parkway for collection. Besides volunteers, the city's new automatic sandbag machines helped fill the city's main defense against floodwaters. The three machines, which the city bought in 2005 at $15,000 each, can each fill 1,600 bags an hour.

With the floodwaters receding, it's time to retire the "army" of sandbags.

As of late Thursday, the river stood at 5.1 feet and is expected to drop below flood stage today. The Des Plaines River crested at 8.6 feet on Aug. 24, city officials said.

At Tuesday's council meeting Arredia plans to ask the city to buy three more sandbagging machines.

City officials Thursday also continued to compile a final tally of storm damage costs to submit to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to qualify for some reimbursement.

"It could have been worse," Arredia said.

Thanks to the $15.2 million Levee 50 project, which added a pumping station and wall, at least a few hundred Des Plaines residents who would have flooded were spared, Arredia said.

Des Plaines officials estimate 600 parkway trees were lost in last week's storm. Public works employees are performing an initial sweep of the city to remove dangerous trees and limbs first. Residents can call public works at (847) 391-5464 to report dangerous trees and limbs.

Workers will then perform a sweep of the entire city to collect smaller branches left on the parkways.

Jon Duddles, assistant director of engineering, said this storm socked the city harder than severe flooding three years ago because of the overwhelming power outages.

"The storm ... heightened the situation," Duddles said. "We've got more damage because of sewer backups."

ComEd has restored power throughout Des Plaines.

But officials already are planning to prepare the city for future disasters.

State Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat, will host a public meeting about ComEd outages at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Des Plaines Library, 1501 Ellinwood St.