(Our personal 2008 Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park Flood- Record-breaking Chicago rains. )
Well, not yet.
And maybe not at all....
No water in the basement yet, not one drop (and hopefully there won't be), but the North Branch of the Chicago River has exceeded flood stage. The houses south of the river are inundated and the city was placing sandbags down there and dropping big concrete pylons. A number of cars are stuck in the water over there.. I guess the owners didn't get them out in time.. or perhaps the owners were at work and didn't realize that the street would flood as much as it did.
We're north of the river; we're several feet higher than the homes south of the river, and our street is dry.
As I write, at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the worst of the rain appears to be over and has moved to the east. There are some lines of thunderstorms southwest that may or may not hit the Chicago area, but they don't seem to be extreme.
As our basement was never turned back into a living area, we don't have as much to lose this time should we get any flooding down there. But, just to be safe, I've triaged and prioritized the stuff in the basement and I have about 20 items that I'm bringing upstairs one or two at a time.
The river itself is not expected to crest until later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, so we are still wary. However, a lot of work has been done on the sewer/drainage system in this area, so our basements may be spared. I won't feel comfortable until tomorrow morning.
Weather Underground says that flooding at Albany Park starts at 7.0 feet. The river was 8.2 feet this morning. It was expected to reach 8.4 feet this afternoon. It did not say whether or not that would be a crest. So we have hours to go before we know how this will all work out.
Here we go again.
Well, not yet.
And maybe not at all....
No water in the basement yet, not one drop (and hopefully there won't be), but the North Branch of the Chicago River has exceeded flood stage. The houses south of the river are inundated and the city was placing sandbags down there and dropping big concrete pylons. A number of cars are stuck in the water over there.. I guess the owners didn't get them out in time.. or perhaps the owners were at work and didn't realize that the street would flood as much as it did.
We're north of the river; we're several feet higher than the homes south of the river, and our street is dry.
As I write, at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the worst of the rain appears to be over and has moved to the east. There are some lines of thunderstorms southwest that may or may not hit the Chicago area, but they don't seem to be extreme.
As our basement was never turned back into a living area, we don't have as much to lose this time should we get any flooding down there. But, just to be safe, I've triaged and prioritized the stuff in the basement and I have about 20 items that I'm bringing upstairs one or two at a time.
The river itself is not expected to crest until later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, so we are still wary. However, a lot of work has been done on the sewer/drainage system in this area, so our basements may be spared. I won't feel comfortable until tomorrow morning.
What's the flood stage for the Chicago River at Albany Park?
Weather Underground says that flooding at Albany Park starts at 7.0 feet. The river was 8.2 feet this morning. It was expected to reach 8.4 feet this afternoon. It did not say whether or not that would be a crest. So we have hours to go before we know how this will all work out.
