Elk Grove Village to host flood summit

Elk Grove Village officials on Tuesday called for a regional summit to address local flooding of the Salt Creek, which overflowed about two weeks ago and caused millions in property damage and lost business.

Mayor Craig Johnson said the summit would include towns like Wood Dale, Itasca and Addison that are along Salt Creek - a tributary of the Des Plaines River.

Local legislators would be invited as well.

Johnson said residents would be apprised of the summit's time and date. The village plans on hosting the event, he said.

The purpose of the summit is to come up with a solution to the flooding, which had been talked about but never implemented, he said.

"This was 100 percent preventable," Johnson said of the village's most recent flooding.

About five years ago, there had been a discussion by Cook County government to install a rubber bladder on a Salt Creek dam in Busse Woods, which is managed by the Cook County Forest Preserve District, Johnson said.

It was supposed to inflate during peak rainstorms, which would prevent flooding. But that device is still under advisement in Cook County, he said. Johnson wants the summit to help speed along the process of obtaining some type of solution, like the bladder.

He said there had been opposition to the bladder by some because it would harm about 100 trees around the dam.

"It's time to put homes ahead of trees," Johnson said.

For two days beginning Sept. 12, almost 9 inches of rain fell in the village. It's close to the village record in 1987 when 12 inches fell in a few days.

During the most recent rains, schools - including Grove Junior High, Queen of the Rosary and Hattendorf Preschool - were closed on the following Monday. Elk Grove High School athletic fields also were flooded, as were the Elk Grove Park District athletic fields and Rainbow Falls Water Park.

One of the village's main roads, Devon Avenue, was closed along portions where it crossed the Salt Creek, officials said.