Water, water in Wauconda

Eight years ago when Scott Sekula bought a house on the northeast shore of Bangs Lake in Wauconda, he didn't realize it was on a flood plain.

Today, his house at 804 Sheridan Drive sticks out like an island amid a giant wading pool that used to be his driveway and yard.

Recent snowstorms and rains have forced the lake and a nearby retention area to overflow, flooding seven homes along Sheridan and Monroe Avenue.

Though it happens every year, Sekula blames the village for not installing storm sewers in front of the homes to ease the flooding. He also said the village should have lowered the lake years ago.

"Nobody from the village has contacted me to see if I need sandbags," Sekula said Friday. "There's supposed to be a sewer system all the way down the road, Sheridan all the way to Park Avenue. They tell us that they ran out of money."

Village Administrator Dan Quick said the village doesn't have the $1 million it would cost to complete the storm sewer project there.

"It's a long-range plan," Quick said. "(It) would not have any effect on what's taking place today. It wouldn't look any different because of the lake level. These homes were built too low."

Village officials said the only way to correct the problem is to tear down the old homes on the flood plain.

The village tried to buy Sekula's home, which is at the lowest point in the village, but he refused to sell because the housing market is down, officials said.

Mark Frisch, whose backyard at 1009 Monroe is flooded with water from the nearby retention basin, complained the pump the village installed three years ago to alleviate flooding problems when the channel overflows hasn't been running lately.

"This is the worst I have ever seen it," Frisch said.

Mayor Sal Saccomanno said the pump was shut off because it directs water back into Bangs Lake, which was at 10½ inches above flood stage Friday morning.

"When it's at 10.5 inches, if we were to pump it back into the lake again, it would just increase the problems that they have right now," he said. "The lake can't take anymore."

The pump was designed to alleviate subdivision flooding problems when the lake is 7 inches or less above flood stage, he said.

Officials said the lake ideally should be no higher than 7½ inches above flood stage.

On March 17, village public works crews removed several damlike structures meant to control the Bangs Lake lake level when frozen.

Beyond that, officials said, they can't do anything to lower the lake on a more timely manner. The water is meant to naturally move downstream through a spillway.

"The lake level doesn't have anything to do with us," Quick said. "That's monitored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The spillway is controlled by them, not us, and it's a concrete ledge."

Quick said Wauconda is in slightly better shape than other villages where water is seeping into residents' homes.

"I'm sure those people are very nervous about it," he said. "We have to hope for clear sky and no rain. It's not anything the village can control. It's nature."