I'd been planning to add a post summarizing the experience of the Albany Park Flood and creating some kind of closure for this blog, as the effects of the September 2008 Albany Park Flood of the Chicago River are fading into the past. But not so fast!
On Friday we heard that we were due for some intense storms and that the temperature was going to spiral up into the 50's or 60's, melting the mounds of snow that had made travel so difficult over the past few weeks. The weather people and the news outlets were making it clear that, due to the rains and the high temperatures, the Chicago area could be in for serious mid-winter flooding. Not what we wanted to hear after we had just spent a couple of weeks moving a lot of stuff back down into the basement so that we could have a livable living room.
Friday afternoon the city trucks started sandbagging the block south of the river, the 5000 block of Monticello that flooded so badly in September. Listening to those dump truck and front loaders was eerie. The Chicago River was already fairly robust Friday evening, but nowhere near flood stage.
Saturday Chicago River Flood Watch
As the rains started, I pulled up Weather Underground on my computer and kept watch on the radar. I read everything I could find about the weather and the flooding, and I could not sleep. I awoke at 2 a.m. Saturday morning and couldn't fall back asleep until the first line of storms were gone, about 7 in the morning. But then I awoke again a couple of hours later when the next storms went through.
I kept looking down into our (still dry) basement every half hour. I actually felt very anxious, almost terrified.
The Chicago River was up over its banks yesterday morning, though from my living room, I could still see people walking along the path by the river. Back in September that path, pictured at the intro to this blog, was completely submerged. I did see people from the Water Department and Streets and San all over the area yesterday.
Flooding in Riverside and DesPlaines
There was no attention to Albany Park from the media, but there was much talk about flooding of the DesPlaines River in Riverside and DesPlaines. I read of people who had just moved back into their homes, just moved stuff back into their basements, who were again facing flooding. To be honest, the DesPlaines River has flooded in Riverside and DesPlaines ever since I can remember. I grew up in the western suburbs, and we all knew that that beautiful area of Riverside along the river was prone to flooding. I did feel for those people... to go through all that we all went through in September and then have it all happen again is very hard.
Saturday Night: No Albany Park Flood... yet
I continued my agonizing watch through Saturday, and I felt quite relieved when the radar showed that most of the rains had moved on to Michigan and places east. The weather and news people made it clear, however, that we weren't out of the woods yet. There was plenty of extra water up farther north, and these rivers might not crest until Sunday, Monday or even later.
I went out to do some errands about 7 p.m. Saturday evening, and I drove through the neighborhood. Though the Chicago River had blown its banks, it was nowhere near as high as it had been in September. The parks were waterlogged, but there was no flooding on any of the roads. Our basement remained dry, and I hope that is true of all of our neighbors. I did manage to fall asleep Saturday night.
But those reports of rivers still to crest weren't very comforting.
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