Amid disaster, countless acts of kindness, resilience
It rained and rained, and then it rained again. Homes invaded by cold, muddy water. An army of sandbaggers. Boat rescues. And resilience.
Nearly two weeks of storms — from July 12 through July 23 — doused the suburbs and raised the banks of the Fox and Des Plaines rivers to historic levels.
The onslaught drowned streets, autos and buildings, resulting in disaster declarations for Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties.
“We gave out 300,000 sandbags and almost all of them were filled by volunteers,” McHenry County Chairman Jack Franks said. “The perseverance and compassion shown by residents since the flood began is humbling. It shows what folks are made of.”
Amid the positives, however, were harsh realities for fatigued river town residents. The trouble started July 12 and 13.
“With 7 to 8 inches of rain pelting down within 12 hours ... it was kind of like a flash-flood scenario,” said Bill Milner, a civil engineer for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
In the aftermath, a fleet of first-responders launched boats to rescue residents trapped by rising waters, among them seniors living in Lake Manor Apartments in Mundelein.
The rapidity of the flooding caught many by surprise.
“If I was half as tall, I would have drowned,” said Reddy Munnangi, who stands 6 feet.
A weather-related power outage at Lake Forest Hospital caused 70 patients to be evacuated.
Miles of major arterials such as Lake-Cook Road and tracks on Metra's Milwaukee North Line were submerged.
Water also oozed into Round Lake schools, besieged Oakton College's Des Plaines campus and the College of Lake County's Grayslake campus.
River towns exhaled slightly only to endure heavy rainfall July 19 and 20, and thunderstorms over the weekend of July 22 to 23.
The region has endured similar disastrous floods in 2008 and 2013, but according to water.weather.gov, crests this time reached record levels on both rivers: In Gurnee, the Des Plaines crested at 12.09 feet, more than 5 feet above flood stage, on July 16. In Lincolnshire, the river crested at 16.53 feet July 13, compared to the flood stage level of 12.5 feet.
And the Fox River crested in Algonquin at 13.15 feet on July 24. Flood stage is 9.5 feet.
The collateral damage from the deluge was myriad.
The Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, where “The Bridges of Madison County” was showing, evacuated 250 guests, although one diner insisted on finishing dessert.
Although no fatalities or major injuries were reported, patients streamed into local hospitals with back pain from lifting furniture or injuries from car accidents incurred while navigating watery streets.
Parks and sports fields closed at the height of the summer, and Algonquin's annual Founders Day Festival was relocated.
Every comical image of carp swimming in front yards was matched by grim ones of flood victims wading to safety, clutching a few essential possessions.
Amid the disaster, suburbanites' frontier instincts kicked in, boosted by countless acts of kindness.
In Algonquin, as multiple pumps worked to rid his house of the Fox River, Dan Prokop took stock and gave thanks for help from “the Crystal Lake High School football team, the fire department, my sister who delayed her vacation, the Red Cross, the village, our neighbors who took up a collection.”
The flood “was the worst ... absolutely,” he said. But “we're still here.”
• Staff writers Doug T. Graham and Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.