Residents wringing out homes -- again

Nicole McNellis looked at the dead grass through the water surrounding her home in Fox Lake's Knollwood Park subdivision and sighed.

"We just put down seed after the last flood," McNellis said Monday. "If I ever move away from here, I will not move someplace on the water."

She's one of about 150 weary homeowners in the Fox Lake and Antioch area dealing with the latest round of flooding caused when the Fox River and Chain O' Lakes overflowed their banks last week.

It's the second time in eight months that some of these homeowners stacked sandbags and watched flood water creep ever closer to their homes.

Last August and September, heavy rains caused water to rise about 16 to 18 inches above flood levels. Some 400 homes in those towns were damaged.

"And this time it's cold," McNellis said. "Last August, it was warm. Today, that water is freezing."

What hasn't changed is the inconvenience.

She has to park her car about a block away from her Oak Avenue home and wade through the water to get to her house. When she lets her dog out, she has to carry him to dry land.

"At least the house isn't damaged," McNellis said. "There are some things in the yard ruined, but the water isn't in the house."

Barring additional rain in the next couple of days, water levels on the Chain should crest and start dropping this week, officials said Monday.

Ed Lescher, head of Fox Lake's Emergency Services Disaster Agency, said most rivers and streams flowing into the Chain have crested and are holding stable or starting to fall.

Roads in low-lying areas in Knollwood Park and King's Island subdivisions and on the east side of Grand Avenue are still closed due to flooding.

Lescher said water is about a foot above flood level and about 8 inches past the point where homes are damaged. However, the water is about 8 inches below levels last August.

The Fox River in New Munster, Wis., crested at 3 feet above flood level Friday night and started to fall early Monday. It's currently more than 2 feet above flood level there.

The National Weather Service has predicted a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms to hit the area later in the week.

"I'm totally sick of it at this point," said Knollwood Park resident Butch Larsen. "It would be nice to get reimbursed for the grass seed I've put down a couple of times now."

Larsen has water up to his home and in his crawlspace.

"At some point, it needs to stop raining and the water levels need to drop," he said.