Gurnee getting ready for the flood

Whirring front-end loaders, sweating volunteers and piles of sand were part of a flood-prevention effort launched Thursday in Gurnee.

It's not a question of whether the Des Plaines River will flood in Gurnee. It's a matter how much water will spill over its banks just east of Milwaukee Avenue and Route 132.

Fire Chief Fred Friedl said any additional rain will alter the National Weather Service's prediction that the river will crest at 9.7 feet late Friday or early Saturday.

"It's just so difficult estimating (a river crest) here with the rain coming in," Friedl said as volunteers filled sandbags in the Gurnee Grade School parking lot Thursday afternoon.

Volunteers began the day filling and stacking sandbags around the school, which is home to Gurnee Elementary District 56's administrative offices on Kilbourne Road, a stone's throw from the river. Front-end loaders collected the bags and moved them where needed.

Sally Ramp of Gurnee and her son, Stephen, were among the sandbag workers. She and her eighth-grade son performed the same chore in 2004.

"We have a lot in that school," Ramp said.

District 56 Superintendent John Hutton said teachers are scheduled to report for the new academic year Monday and the students Tuesday. He said flooding could change that schedule.

Hutton has been on the job just eight weeks since coming to Gurnee from an Indiana school district. He said he was impressed how community members rallied to help protect the school.

"It's been an unbelievable team effort," Hutton said.

Meanwhile, Friedl stressed that thrill-seekers should stay away from the swollen Des Plaines River. He said firefighters noticed several young adults playing in the water Wednesday.

"What they don't understand is there is one heck of an undertow in the river," he said.

Friedl said he hopes possible heavy rain doesn't create a flood worse than what hit in May 2004, when the Des Plaines River hit 11.76 feet in Gurnee. Officials are again concerned about floodwater spilling onto major thoroughfares such as routes 132, 120 and 41.

Gurnee sustained an estimated $1.2 million in damage from the 2004 flood. Police and fire protection, sandbags and other flood-related expenses cost village taxpayers about $300,000.

Elsewhere in Lake County, Libertyville officials said they are monitoring the Des Plaines River water level hourly. Village employees have been filling sandbags and will make them available to residents.

To the south, Lincolnshire public works employees began filling sandbags Thursday. Village employees have entered what they're calling "flood-alert level."

Fox River flooding led to the Chain O' Lakes water levels increasing about six inches since early Wednesday, officials said.

But Fox Lake Emergency Services and Disaster Agency director Ed Lescher said rainfall Wednesday and Thursday evening -- as well as possibly today -- likely will add to the problems.

"It needs to stop raining," he said. "Until the rain stops, the lakes will continue to go up."

Lescher also said the Fox River's New Munster, Wis., gauge remains at 14.8 feet, but that number could be confusing. That gauge has been at 14.8 feet for the past 48 hours

"At some point, the gauge will not be able to go any higher," he said. "Water will reach a certain point before it overflows its banks and starts traveling sideways."

Kings Island off Route 12, Atwater Park subdivision off Grand Avenue and Knollwood Park subdivision off Route 59 are still the hardest-hit areas in Fox Lake, but Lescher said water is now creeping up in other subdivisions surrounding the Chain.