'Looks like everything is holding up'

Residents along the Des Plaines River grappled with water that reached just above flood levels Saturday.

The Des Plaines River reached 5.77 feet late Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Five feet is considered flooding. At 5.5 feet, roads in the Des Plaines forest preserve begin to flood and water reaches some backyards on Big Bend Drive along the river.

On Friday, Des Plaines officials were closely monitoring the flood situation, but by Saturday the city's emergency management agency was no longer on alert status.

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Lake County emergency crews were keeping a close eye on river levels, as well, Saturday.

Officials distributed sandbags to areas along the Fox River and Chain O' Lakes -- though not as many as they initially feared.

Fox Lake Emergency Services Disaster Agency Coordinator Ed Lescher said about 50 homes had water on their properties, but less than a dozen had flood damage.

The Fox River in New Munster, Wis., has crested at 3 feet above flood levels, about 1 foot below predictions made earlier this week by the National Weather Service.

However, the Chain O' Lakes in Fox Lake and Antioch is still rising because of the high water coming in from Wisconsin. Most recent values show Fox Lake was at about 14 inches over flood levels, and about 5 inches over the point where homes start to get damaged.

Lee Shannon, head of Antioch's Emergency Services Disaster Agency, said there is still scattered flooding throughout Antioch, but that for the most part, things are doing well.

"We have about a dozen homes in the low-lying areas that are surrounded by water, but it looks like everything is holding up so far," he said.

He added Fox River Gardens in Antioch Township seems to have the worst flooding at this point, but the water was held off mostly because of a huge sandbag effort by residents and volunteer sailors bused in from Great Lakes Naval Center.