Just over two weeks after a late July flood inundated the Southwest Side and had residents asking when the Federal Emergency Management Agency would arrive, the question has been answered.
The most recent update is that FEMA is coming in to do a further analysis of what transpired on the weekend of July 25-28, Alderman Marty Quinn (13th) said.
Quinn said FEMA is expected by the end of this week. He said surveys of flood damage will help make the case to FEMA.
FEMA activation for emergency assistance involves a number of preliminary steps that begin with local government.
“On Aug. 6, the City of Chicago and Cook County issued disaster declarations for the flood that occurred on July 25 through the 28th,” said Alderman Silvana Tabares (23rd).
Making the declarations moved the recovery assistance process further along in order to pursue available resources, she said.
“With local government team emergency activation damage assessment (via surveys and 311 calls) and disaster declarations complete, the next step was for Cook County and the State of Illinois to make the case for flood recovery assistance from FEMA,” said Quinn.
If approved, Governor JB Pritzker, via FEMA, submits the completed assessment determination along with a request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration within 30 days of the event. President Donald Trump then decides whether or not to grant aid.
In an Aug. 4 email to the Southwest News Herald, Kimberly Keblish, FEMA Region 5, Public Affairs Specialist said, “ … the State of Illinois has not submitted a request for federal assistance.”
As of Aug. 6, OEMC reported 3,302 surveys were completed by Chicago and Cook County residents. 111 residences were considered to be destroyed, 544 were considered to have major damage and 1,451 reported minor damage. 1,018 residences are considered to be affected, according to an Aug. 7 press release.
The Chicago Department of Water, already on the scene in Southwest Side wards on July 25, fielded 2,318 flooding complaints as of July 30, according to a department Facebook post.
In response to the flooding, aldermanic offices worked through the weekend taking phone calls from residents.
Quinn and Tabares praised and thanked their staff members, the Chicago Water Department, OEMC personnel for their quick responses and dedication to ward residents in need, including the Salvation Army for donating cleaning kits.
“The ward staff has been working 12-hour shifts, coming in on Saturdays, the day after the flood, to put plans in place for the week,” Quinn said.
Quinn’s 13th Ward staff fielded more than 800 calls for flooded basements as of Aug. 11.
Tabares’ said 1,600 submissions in the 311 system had been logged and the 23rd Ward staff worked through the weekend fielding 351 resident calls as of Aug. 7.
Alderman Ray Lopez stated the 15th Ward had approximately 1,000 residents affected, predominantly in the Gage Park and Chicago Lawn neighborhoods.
“We’ve seen reports of anywhere between 5 inches and nearly 3 feet of water in basements,” Lopez said. “In some locations on the street, for example 55th and California, the water was above the curb in all directions, literally at the front doors of businesses.”
All affected wards received cleaning kits from the Salvation Army.
Floods occur when heavy rainfall inundates city sewer lines and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan system.
A July 28 MWRD press release said, on Friday, July 25, slow-moving storms created multiple flash floods. Discharging 3.5 inches of water and in certain areas, 5 to 6 inches of water fell within a 60 to 90 minute period, according to the National Weather Service.
Normally, stormwater moves through small sewer lines owned and supported by local municipalities and enters large TARP interceptor sewers where storm and wastewater moves to reclamation plants for cleaning.
TARP also stores water in its reservoirs until it can be pumped to one of the MRWD’s reclamation plants for cleaning.
“In heavy rainfall, the water flows past the MWRD intercepting sewer and falls into a TARP tunnel to help keep this water from overflowing into our waterways and backing up into our basements. Water must pass through local sewers first before it even reaches the TARP system,” according to the July 28 press release.
Overloaded treatment plants also cause sewage to follow the original sewer paths and overflows into rivers, increasing the chance of flooding.
“The McCook Reservoir, which has a capacity of 3.5 billion gallons and serves central Chicago and 36 municipalities covering 252 square miles, filled to approximately 60% capacity during this storm event,” the press release stated.
Lopez identified local flooding solutions that can be handled by the city.
He noted that the 100-year-old sewer infrastructure handled 100 year storms easily but storms are more frequent today.
“As Mariana Spyropoulos (former MWRD member) famously said, ‘It’s like trying to drain a pool with a soda straw,” Lopez said.
The alderman said paying to repair homes later, rather than preventing flooding on the front end, is not economically feasible, stating the city’s water department should do more proactive and preventative sewer cleanings.
“I’ve got curbside catch basins with trees growing in them,” he said.
The biggest issue in the 15th Ward is a lack of flood insurance for residents ensuring they have coverage for mold-free buildings, moisture mitigation, working appliances and for repairs to a basic standard, Lopez said.
“We need to solve water-related flooding problems for the 20th century,” he said.
I had so much disaster and lose in my basement
Are clean up kits still available?
I lost my basement floor, the bed, and furniture, etc.
Do you have some cleaning kits available.
contact your alderman’s office
What about after last night’s flooding on August 16?!
We call 311 in Chicago and they close out the tickets by lying and saying that they sent an inspector and there was no problem as soon as you hang up the phone.