Albany Park Flood cleanup... Week 6

(Our personal Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park Flood- Record-breaking Chicago rains. )

Recovering from the Albany Park flood should be getting easier, but both psychologically and physically, it seems to go up and down.

Good News; Bad News

The good news is that the humidity in our basement is under 40%, which is pretty normal for this time of year. The drier the area, the less friendly environment for molds and bacteria.

The bad news is that we're still pulling moldy stuff out of the basement, and I've just started taking down the wallboard. I've got the worst of the wallboard down, which was in the laundry room and the bathroom. It's just slow going, and though I'm getting much better at hammering down the wallboard and cleaning up any obvious mold, I'm only one person.

Most frustrating for us now is the fact that we still don't have our insurance check. We've signed off on the "loss statement" over a week ago, and I badgered our agent a few times this week.

The upstairs is still full of stuff, and that is starting to be difficult to deal with. I'm still a good week or two away from having things clean enough in the basement to start bringing stuff down there so the upstairs can be habitable.

"Progress" in the Bathroom after the Albany Park Flood

First, a peek into the downstairs bathroom when we still had 3-4 feet of water in it. This is just the entryway, as we weren't going to walk all of the way into it with 3-4 feet of muck. That white thing is a little shelf unit that used to sit up against that wall and hold toiletries, towels, etc. The water is higher in the first pic than in the second:





After the water was out, we were left with this mess... and I didn't take any really good pictures of the bathroom mess.. It actually was much worse!





The doors down there are all warped; they will all have to go.

Where We Are Now

This is where we are now. I first filled a couple of contractor bags with water-logged toilet papers, soap, miscellaneous undistinguishable medications and toiletries, stuff that was in the vanity under the sink, garbage from floating garbage cans, etc. The bathtub and the sink were loaded with stuff that had floated into the bathroom and remained when the water went down the drain. I knocked down that moldy white shelf unit and loaded it into contractor bags. Then I cleaned and bleached the floor, the toilet, sink, and bathtub, all of the walls, even the ones that will go.

I pulled down most of the wallboard, cleaned and bleached the wall behind the wallboard and the studs. There must have been two rooms there once upon a time.. part of the wall behind the wallboard was white, part was green. We also noticed that the rehabbers must have knocked out some of the cement from the wall behind the studs.... perhaps to make room for the studs? The vanity will have to go, but for now, the mold has been contained... There is discoloration and stains, but no mold:





The toilet paper holder actually survived the flood. Complete with new toilet paper, the downstairs toilet is now very clean and completely usable.

Every Man's Dream

Oh, I almost forgot! Paul had a reading stand down there in the bathroom, full of magazines about cars, motorcycles, and guitars. All of those magazines resulted in three heavy bags of sodden reading material. We did save the little stand. And we also had a T.V. by the toilet (The T.V. was saved and is now upstairs.).. The movable mounting unit for the T.V. can still be seen on the wall, even though the wallboard has been pulled out around it. (That's every man's dream.. a reading table and an HDTV in the bathroom opposite the toilet.)

So that's where we are. Six weeks (or is it now seven?) after our lives and our home were completely disrupted by the Albany Park flood!

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Insurance checks and Barack Obama. )

Disaster Food Stamps... Comments Part 2

(Our personal Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park Flood- Record-breaking Chicago rains. )

More comments from readers of the article on disaster food stamps:

If you don't want to read more of these comments about Disaster Food Stamps, just continue here: Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Albany Park Flood Cleanup Week 6

The published comments are in italics, my replies follow:

Two words, Job and Insurance. I too had a flooded house and my insurance covered most of the stuff. I did have to shell out a couple hundred bucks extra to get food, but oh well. I work hard, full time, and although I dont make alot of money I make enough to support myself, my family, pay the bills on time and have a little extra to go out and do stuff once in a while. Now my taxes go to put food on the table to lazy unemployed people that want to milk the system. I didnt have money for college, so I got a job, worked hard and worked my way up. I live on my own, pay my bills and am going back to school to earn my degree. What I got I earned. I didnt impregnate my girlfriend 100 times and therefore am able to live. When I finish school and make more money then the kids will come.

Well, we had a job and we had insurance and we have savings. Our loss exceeds what we will get from the insurance and FEMA. If you needed and were entitled to the assistance due to food loss due to the flooded house, why wouldn't you pursue it (other than the wait)? If you were entitled to help, you could have swallowed your pride and received a couple of hundred dollars that could have helped you with your school. You have paid taxes, so, had you decided to apply for some food assistance, you would have also "got what you earned". The program is not designed to help lazy unemployed people; it is designed to help people who experienced significant loss due to a natural disaster.

WHAT does home damage and lost possessions have to do with FOOD?!?!? Thanks Bush! Thanks IDES/DHS! What am I missing here? (Other than a free ride like these BUMS!)

Can these people get a job already instead of waiting for a handout!! What a joke....

Lather, rinse, repeat. This program has nothing to do with people getting a job, nor with people being bums. Unfortunately, there are people who will take advantage of a well-intentioned program.

For all those who complain about the few dollars in food stamps, lets cut out all government handouts. Things like the gi bill for college and home purchasing, fha mortgages and insurance, home tax deductions, unemployment benefits, corporate tax credits and bail out loans and equity. Lets just send all of our money to Iraq like we been doing, instead of helping the people in the usa.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of program that is somewhat easy to abuse. But your point is well made.

Disaster food stamps for other places?

President Bush declared seven northern Illinois counties disaster areas after the heavy September rains across the region. (WHAT A JOKE!)

What about the people in NW IN who have lost everything due to the flooding there as well. Why hasn't the fearless leader in the white house think about those folks.

NW Indiana also had a Disaster Food Program a few weeks back. I'm not sure why they got theirs earlier than Illinois did.

My basement flooded and yes I lost alot of things food included that was in the deep freezer and no I didnt have the time or day to go and stand in line for foodstamps and yes I work full time and I'm a full time student raising my son on my own, where I lived the water came to my back door which have stairs that lead up to it. I wish I could get foodstamps!

It is truly unfortunate that many hard-working people who could benefit from this program will not be able to get the assistance to which they are entitled because they can't find the time to stand in line.

This is CRAZY!!! I had no power for 4 days, and I lost alot of food, but because my basement didn't flood I don't get anything!! What kind of proof did these people need to show to get this money?? Myself and the other people who had to go work and couldn't stand in line, what do we get? Just another great way to spend our hard earned tax dollars...

If you were in an area with no power for four days, even though you didn't flood, you might have been entitled to some assistance. They would subtract the value of the food you lost due to no electricity (probably $200-300) and compared it to your income and ready cash reserves for the month.

It's interesting that people up here are recieving aid. Houston has essentially been forgotten about at this point, and support was scarce when it was offered.

I just did a quick Google search, and read that 45,000 people in Texas signed up for Disaster Food Stamps. If that figure represents families applying vs. individuals, it means that at least 100,000 people in Texas did get Disaster Food Assistance.

I'm amazed at some to the ignorant comments the readers of this paper leave. Most have racist undertones, no compassion for the poor and needy, and are spoken in pride! These are "Americans" May God have mercy.

There are certainly angry people posting here. People don't like Food Stamps, and most of the people posting here are not distinguishing between regular food stamps and the disaster program.. and they are assuming that everybody who gets Food Stamps is some kind of lazy loafer.

Yes, we have worked!

And I'll bet you never worked a day in your life to just put food on the table amd make that mortgage payment all the while trying save for your kids college and retirement.

Because if you had to work for everything you've managed to accomplish in life, you wouldn't be so willing to see it be given away to someone else without your approval. You would have known from life experiences that there are a many scammers out there. The put more effort into beating the system than looking to do the right thing like find a job and pay for it themselves.

And once they attack you for being "rich" even though you are not, maybe then you'll understand.

You have led a sheltered life.

Umm... most of the people in my neighborhood work every day, pay mortgages and work hard to put food on the table.. and try to provide funds for their kids to go to school and hope they can eventually retire.

Then they are hit with four feet of water in their basement; washers/dryers/hot water heaters/furnaces that are trashed, furniture, supplies, food, possessions,photos, all gone. Thank heavens that some of us can tap into the taxes that we have paid for years and get a little something. I don't think that most people posting here have ever lived through this kind of disaster. I know I hadn't until five weeks ago.

VOTE WISELY!!! The people deserves the government it elects!!!

Lot's of heartless bigots out there. And some of you calling it socialism need to go back to school. The nationalizing (govt. buying) of our banks is a much more socialistic move. Both candidates and parties, as well as Bush pushed it through.

As I wrote above, Disaster Food Stamps have been around in some form since 1974. The program has been amended and formalized several times during several administrations. This is not a new program, nor a Democratic or a Republican program.

O.K, enough about disaster food stamps for people affected by the Albany Park Flood. Now let me catch my breath. Whew!!

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Albany Park Flood Cleanup Week 6

Disaster Food Stamps: Comments, Explanation

(Our personal Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts here at Albany Park Flood: Record-breaking Chicago rains. )

The Disaster Food Stamp program is getting more publicity today, and it's not necessarily good publicity. Here's a story about hundreds lining up for flood food stamps.

As of this minute, 24 people have posted comments, and many of them were enraged.... or the comments were based on false information. I wrote a comment, but it hasn't yet been posted. So here are my responses to some of those comments-- The published comments are in italics; my responses follow:

Disaster Food Stamps based on Flood Damage and Income

"The money was allocated based on the number of people in the home. Wendy Weather, a mother of two young kids from Calumet City, received $447 this morning, money on top of what her family normally gets in a month."

The money was allocated based on income, loss from the flood, and the number of people in the home. People were not entitled to get money from this program unless they had flood damage.

Get a freaking job already & quit relying on hard working American's to pay your bills!!!

If you had flood damage and the flood damage exceeded your monthly income or greatly reduced your monthly income, you could get Disaster Food Stamps. It had nothing to do with employment. Our damage was so severe, that we could have had a much greater income than we did that month and still qualified.

Disaster Food Stamp Program Was Started in 1974

We're going to have a country full of people with their hands out if that Socialist gets elected!

Get used to this.

In the words of the presidential candidate who is leading in the polls:

"I just want to spread the wealth around."

I don't think that either candidate would roll back the food stamp or the disaster food stamp program. The Disaster Food Stamp program has been around in some form since 1974, during a Republican administration.

So, if you line up and say you have water damage, you get food stamps? What a crock! Are the officials just taking your word for it?

My sense is that people requesting supplemental food stamps (people already in the program seeking extra allocations) might have been screened more carefully than those who were seeking one-time only assistance. This is just my impression; I don't know for sure.

What about the people with flood damage who work and couldn't afford to take the time off to wait in line?? This is an outrage!!!

I am not sure exactly what this person considers an outrage... that he/she couldn't take time off from work? Or that the program exists at all?

My comment is for Jeff and the other person with the comment, there were plenty of people that was in line that works so the lady that said along with her other income, maybe she was referring to her work paycheck. With the economy the way it is they should be giving food stamps away to people even though of us making 6 figures. My basement flooded but I couldn't go stand in a line for 11 hours like some folks did, just to receive food stamps for my family!!

I do agree that people who work and couldn't get away, or people with little kids (who can't stand in line for hours)-- and were entitled to these funds got the short end of the stick. Please remember that this is a one-time thing.

Pontiac, Il, Got Disaster Food Stamps in the Spring

Oh really? I don't remember Pontiac,IL getting food stamps when the whole town was basically under water this past January! We had to fight, and fight before FEMA would actually consider our flooding a "natural disater" At least the people in Pontiac are hard working and don't rely on the government for much, these people, wow, get real. Like they had the food stamps to begin with. What makes you think things are gonna change?

I quickly googled the state Department of Human Services site, and the people of Pontiac were entitled to disaster food assistance back in January. People in our neighborhood, Albany Park, are hard-working as well. Generally, every morning at 7 a.m., this block empties out as people get in their cars and go to work.

The article said nothing about these people not having jobs. I can't imagine ALL employers will not understand that you've recently been the victim of a flood and need to take a day off to handle matters.

The caption under the picture says the woman was not eligible, but then the article does not explain why she was considered not eligible...

The Disaster Food Stamp program has nothing to do with employment or lack of it. It compares damages and losses to income from any source to determine eligibility. I think that some people would be able to get time off to register for this program, and some would not.

Okay...is it just me or is anyone else wondering why in the heck a family of 3 needs an EXTRA $447 in food vouchers for a MONTH!!!!!!!

I'm really worried about how MY tax dollars are being given out. I struggle to pay bills, however they are paid and I'm fine. But that comes from proper money management and sacrifice. An EXTRA $447 is pretty outrageous.

I don't think you understand this program. It is designed to assist people who experienced significant loss due to a natural disaster. Most of the people who are entitled to such funds are not people who are already in the program. People are not entitled to extra funds unless they have significant flood damage.

I certainly hope that you never experience a $20-30 grand loss due to a natural disaster in the same year you are experiencing a loss of income due to unemployment or health problems... or both. Proper money management and sacrifice will only go so far when you experience one personal or natural disaster after another.

People lost EVERYTHING in their homes in the flood, including whatever dry goods they had in their homes.

And this job market has many many people out of work.

And likely many flood victims have jobs but used a vacation day to get in line for food vouchers.

Anyone who will wait in line for hours for food is DESPERATE.

I'll bet the people who are attacking those folks have never missed a meal in their lives.

Well, I wasn't desperate. Not Friday afternoon. I don't know if I would have stood in line for hours had I known the wait would be hours. And I was more desperate three weeks ago when we had to put down a down payment for a new furnace/water heater and we had to spend a small fortune on pumps, dehumidifiers, fans, and cleaning supplies... and my car broke down. We did have to throw away all of our refrigerated food as we had no electricity for several days.

I looked at the wait as getting $50-100/hr for my time and patience. And I felt that, considering all of the tax dollars that we (and our families) have paid over the years, it was good that we could get something back.

Not Only on the South Side

How does giving someone food stamps help them with a flooded basement? Sounds like another free giveaway to people that already recieve free services. Are there going to be locations around places that suffered the worst of the floods, like maybe Des Plaines?

I wonder if they will do a food stamp day in the northwest suburbs for all the people in DesPlaines that were flooded or if they have to travel all the way to the south side to collect?

WHAT does your home being damaged have to do with food? Are you saying they all kept their groceries in the basement?!? "Disaster unemployment insurance", you're gonna have to explain that too.

Yes, the people in DesPlaines are eligible, and there are centers in the NW suburbs. Nobody had to venture to the South Side. Many people in the areas hit hard by the floods lost power for days. The water in the basement resulted in no power which meant that all refrigerated foods needed to be tossed. Also, there were people living in garden apartments who lost all of their food. Some people stored extra food in the basement, perhaps they had a refrigerator or freezer down there, as we did. Unfortunately, most of those people could have used the assistance the third week of September, when the power came back on after the flood.

About the disaster unemployment insurance: I don't know much about that, but if you are faced with four feet of water in your basement or living space, or you are forced to move and/or stay elsewhere because your home is uninhabitable, you might find that you can't work while you deal with the crisis. Or your employer might be closed down due to the flood. Four feet of water in a living space is not the same as a few inches of muck in a basement. Just thank your lucky stars that you are never faced with significant damage due to a natural disaster. If you are ever in such a situation, you will be singing a very different tune.

There are more comments about disaster food stamps and my replies in
the next entry in the Albany Park Flood blog

Albany Park Flood victims can still get Disaster Food Stamps

(Our personal Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park Flood- Record-breaking Chicago rains. )

As I mentioned in the entry on my disaster food stamp experience, the deadline for Albany Park flood victims to apply for emergency Disaster Food Stamps has been extended until Wednesday, October 22, 2008.

The application must be made in person at one of the Illinois Department of Human Services offices, and it took quite a bit of time due to the volume of applicants.

From Chicago Tribune mobile edition:

More than 500 flood victims seeking food stamps lined up outside two Chicago-area state offices early this morning apparently unaware that the offices were closed.

This comes a few days after 3,000 people lined up at a Blue Island location, sparking officials to bring in portable toilets and local police to control the crowds. There also were hundreds of people at other locations.

"We understand it's a testament to the economic crisis and when you couple that with a national disaster, that's what happens," said Marielle Sainvilus, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services.

On Saturday, lines formed, some say as early as 1 a.m., at offices in Calumet Park on Chicago's south side and Blue Island. Maintenance employees contacted the administrators at the Illinois Department of Human Services and staffers were sent to the scene to tell the crowd that offices are not open Saturday and Sunday, Sainvilus said.

Next week, office hours will be extended until 9 p.m. at about a dozen locations.

The deadline for flood victims to apply for food stamps was extended from Friday to Wednesday.

Disaster Food Stamps are given to families based on cash resources available to a household during the disaster.

For example, a 4-person family with a maximum allowable income of $2,328 a month would receive $565 in food stamps. A qualifying 3-person family would receive $445 and 2 persons $311.

Most benefits will be available within three days of the date of application.

Applications for Disaster Food Stamps can be filed at Illinois Department of Human Services offices listed below:

Cook County / Chicago

Calumet Park
831 W. 119th St., Chicago
(773) 660-4700

Humboldt Park
2753 W. North Ave., Chicago
(773) 292-7200

Wicker Park
1279 N Milwaukee, 3rd Fl., Chicago
(773) 292-2900

The Tribune missed the Skokie location to which I went (8020 N. St. Louis, Oakton and Central Park). There weren't thousands of people there, only a few hundred. Also, the income is based on income for the 4-week flood period minus damages. So if you have a 2 person family income of $5,000 gross (and would not normally qualify for food stamps), access to cash of $1,000, but you had $5,000 of damages, you would qualify. The amount of food stamp money you get for emergency disaster relief is a one-time thing; it does not repeat.

There was another article on Disaster Food Stamps today at Breaking News, and it attracted many angry comments. I couldn't resist responding to those angry people, so I added an entry for my Disaster Food Stamps comments.

(The Albany Park flood home page is at Albany Park flood blog: One family's experience. )

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Complaints (some nasty) about Disaster Food Stamps. )

FEMA's Disaster Recovery Office Now Open

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

I received this message from the office of Alderman Marge Laurino:

FEMA Disaster Recovery Center
Opens In Albany Park


The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to the state of Illinois. Homeowners, renters and business owners affected by the Albany Park floods of September 13-14, 2008 may be eligible to receive federal assistance.

To serve the needs of the affected residents, Alderman Laurino, State Representative John D'Amico, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, and the city's Office of Management and Communications worked with FEMA to open an office in the Albany Park community. The FEMA Disaster Recovery Center in Albany Park will provide face-to-face assistance to those who suffered damage.

The center will be located at:
Northeastern Illinois University
Physical Education Building
3600 W. Foster Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625


The center will open at noon, Tuesday, October 7. Starting Wednesday, October 8, the hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, until further notice.

Residents should register with FEMA before visiting the center. There are two ways to register: log on to www.fema.gov or call FEMA's toll free number, 1-800-621-FEMA (3362), or TTY 1-800-462-7585. Both numbers are available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m, seven days a week, until further notice. Residents should register only once; duplicate registrations may cause delays in the delivery of assistance.

Before going to the center, residents should bring identification, Social Security numbers, insurance information, proof of address and contact phone numbers in order to help speed up the assistance process.

Services people can expect to receive at the disaster recovery center include:

* Guidance regarding disaster recovery;
* Clarification of any written correspondence received;
* Housing Assistance and Rental Resource information;
* Answers to questions, resolution to problems and referrals to agencies that may provide further assistance;
* Status of applications being processed by FEMA;
* U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) program information; and
* Information from representatives of other federal, state, and local agencies.

More information is available online at www.fema.gov.


Special thanks to President Sharon Hahs and the staff of Northeastern Illinois University for working with FEMA to find a location for our local disaster recovery office. We appreciate their dedication to the Albany Park community.

If you want to subscribe to this e-newsletter, click on the link below or sign up at www.AldermanLaurino.com

There is also an article about the office on the ChiTown Daily news site:

Chicago storm victims seek relief through FEMA .

Thanks for the heads up on that article, Craig!

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: FEMA's Temporary Office at Northeastern Illinois University. )

Albany Park gets FEMA aid

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

It looks as though Albany Park is an official FEMA disaster area. I just saw this news item this evening:

Federal officials grant flooding assistance grants

Associated Press
6:49 PM CDT, October 3, 2008

CHICAGO - Federal officials have approved disaster aid for seven northeastern Illinois counties affected by severe weather last month.

The Federal Assistance Emergency Management Agency says the counties are Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will.

Residents are eligible for federal aid such as low cost loans for housing and programs for business owners to recover.

Record rainfall in September flooded hundreds of homes and businesses, forcing more than a thousand evacuations. Tens of thousands of people were without power.

Officials say they'll continue damage surveys and additional areas might be designated for assistance.

Governor Rod Blagojevich declared the seven Chicago-area counties state disaster areas last month.

I'm sure we will hear more about this at the meetings scheduled for the week after next.

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: FEMA's Disaster Recovery Office Now Open! )

Albany Park Neighbors discuss Albany Park Flood

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park: Record breaking Chicago rains. )

If you haven't yet found or checked out the Albany Park Neighbors blog , please drop by as they have a wealth of information on their site.

Here are some notes about the meeting held last weekend:

This morning over twenty dedicated neighbors showed up for our second meeting. We shared the good news that we will have a meeting with Alderman Laurino on Monday, September 29. A smaller delegation will present our concerns to the Alderman and discuss what can be done. We also heard some personal stories from worried neighbors and two crews from Univision and WGN-9 news taped part of the meeting and interviewed neighbors. A big thank you to these channels for keeping this story alive. Be sure to tune in to the news tonight.

In addition, we shared a petition that will be sent to our representatives in many branches of the government, from local to federal. In the petition, we call on the local, state and federal government to:

1. Take measures to update Albany Park’s sewer and drainage system, eliminating annual water back-up issues by blocking rainwater and preventing sewer backup;

2. Take measures to protect Albany Park from flooding caused by the Chicago River, pushing through measures that were promised for years, including but not limited to berms and retaining walls;

3. Thoroughly review its response to the Albany Park flood—in particular anticipation and readiness, sandbagging the affected area and communication with the neighborhood—and institute necessary changes.


In the following week, you will see people on the street, at Kimball station and going from door to door, gathering signatures. If you want to volunteer your time to gather these important signatures, please contact us at albanyparkflood (at) gmail.com.

More updates to follow after Monday’s meeting. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, don’t forget to keep sending us your personal stories about the flood. Send them to albanyparkflood (at) gmail.com.

Albany Park Flood .. Restoring DVD's -- Week 3

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts here at "Record Breaking Chicago rains". )

We have received updates and information from both the Albany Park Neighbors site and from the office of Alderman Laurino. I'll post that in a separate entry.

I would love to know how other people in the area are doing with clean-up and repair after the Albany Park flood. It's very slow here.. We don't yet have all of the carpeting pulled up nor do we have all of the wallboard down. My goal is to pull up the rest of the carpeting on the east half of our basement in the next 2-3 days, dry out that part of the basement, put down a tarp, and then start moving all of the saved items over to that side, also all of the saved items from upstairs, which are still cluttering our upstairs living room.

I happened to come across a video from the University of Iowa on salvaging and cleaning old records and DVD's. The University of Iowa, which is located in a beautiful location on the Iowa River in Iowa City, experienced unprecedented flooding last June. The library, the arts campus, and the student union building were seriously damaged, and many buildings are still closed. This video was recorded by the Preservation Department and it gives a demonstration of restoring both old records and DVD's.

Though we were able to save many or our DVD's from the flood, we still have many that were underwater. I will try the approach they suggest, which involves washing the DVD's in distilled water, then drying them first with alcohol, then hanging them to dry.

I haven't mowed my grass since the flood, and I still haven't planted the chrysanthemums that I bought just two days before the big rains. I think our autumn decorations will be a bit sparse this year.

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Albany Park Gets FEMA aid! )

albanyparkneighbors.blogspot.com

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

Some of our neighbors who are also flood victims have started a blog at:

albanyparkneighbors.blogspot.com.

From their site:


This Web site was created to serve as a central point for Albany Park residents. We want to accomplish a couple of things:

* Gather the stories from the community (letters, photos and videos);
* Keep the community up-to-date on what is being done and what can be done;
* And raise the following issues:

1. Sewers and drainage;
2. Protection from the river and water management;
3. Response and communication during the crisis.


If you have stories, photos or videos that you want to share, or if you have questions (or answers) about any of the issues, please feel free to leave a comment or to send an e-mail to albanyparkflood (at) gmail.com

There will be a community meeting on Saturday, September 27 at 9:00 a.m. Location to be announced. Stay tuned!

And thanks to those people (whom I have not yet met) for mentioning my blog on their site.

Meeting Neighbors

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

We've lived here for three years. We know some of the people on this street.... we smile at them as we drive by. But we don't really talk to them.

The best thing that comes out of disasters is that people start to meet their neighbors, to complain, to help, to exchange the latest info on gas, electric, city services, possible FEMA assistance. That's nice.

I've talked to more people in this area, both people on my own block, and people on other blocks, in the last five days than I have in the last three years. I met the couple that just moved in... yep, just a month ago, with their two little kids at the end of the block. They also did their homework and heard that the street doesn't flood.

I met the woman with the beautful house right on the river on the 5000 block of Monticello.. She has big picture windows that open onto the creek. And the gentleman who lives behind her on the 5000 block of Central Park. He was setting up a pump early, Saturday afternoon. I wonder how he did.

There's a new bond in the community: How were things on your block? How high was the water? What did you lose?

The neighborhood seems friendlier; the bond of disaster and tragedy.

(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: City of Chicago workers Help Get Rid of Junk. )

Here comes the water!

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

I realized with horror that I could no longer hear the gurgling of rivulets of water into the drain because the drained had filled.

My husband and I looked at the drain in the laundry room, now filled to the top with water, and we knew in a second what that meant.

The water was quickly above the drain and starting to fill the laundry room. My husband's initial inclination was to bail, using a big garbage can and starting to scoop up water and throw it into the stationary tubs.

I started to grab things off of the floor and put them on the stairs. Anything low, boxes of important papers, drawers with important papers in plastic file cabinets, Paul's vintage music box that was passed down to him from his grandmother.

After about 10 minutes my husband realized that bailing was going to do no good, and he joined me in frantically grabbing as much stuff as we could as the waters started rising higher and faster above the sewer drain.

I grabbed my computer and took it upstairs. We looked at our TV/stereo system and concentrated most of our efforts there. The Dish network box was low, near the floor, and my husband started pulling cables and wires. We got it out; the first AV piece up the stairs. The DVD player, the relatively new Yamaha receiver, amplifiers and other stuff, we somehow got out and up the stairs. We let the wires behind, figuring they were replaceable.

The big TV was on a stand, so we didn't take it at first, but then we realized that the water was rising fast... so somehow we struggled with the 50 inch TV and got it up the stairs, sitting it in the kitchen... where it still sits now.

One of our computers was on a little table. No, my husband said, let's not get it yet; the water is not that high. We were struggling with one of the big heavy Polk speakers, and the darned thing slipped out of our grasp and hit the water, knocking over the table with the computer at the same time. That computer... with all of our vacation pictures on it... was gone. We watched it sink.

The big Polk speaker, one of my presents to my husband back in 2004, was in the water. We got the other Polk speaker upstairs. Not sure what good one Polk speaker will do.

Sometime in there we heard a hissing. We realized with horror that the water had reached the level of the electrical outlets. "Pull the main!" my husband yelled, as I was closer to the circuit breaker box. So I walked over to it, pulled the breaker, and everything went dark. We continued to work with flashlights.

We did pull all of the posters and paintings off the wall as we didn't know how high the water was going to go.

The stereo stack was empty, the big TV was upstairs, the bathroom TV was upstairs. My husband had grabbed his clothes and they were upstairs. The water was continuing to rise; we were in water to our thighs by this time and it was just time to stop.

My husband wanted to save our bedroom TV, an older model Proscan that he loved and had had for 10 years. But it was heavy, heavier than the big Sony that we had somehow managed to drag up the stairs. My husband somehow managed to put it up on his dresser, but I dissuaded him from trying to move it up the steps with his bad neck. It wasn't worth another spinal surgery. Fortunately, he agreed, and that was the end of that.

So that was that. The end of our lovely family room/bedroom that was such a refuge for us. It was under water, the comfortable leather sofa, my husband's leather chair that he'd had for so many years, the water bed was starting to float. I grabbed the comforter and some of our pillows off of the bed at the last minute.

I took a last look around... the water heater and the furnace were sitting in about three feet of water by that time. The bathtub and the toilet were sitting in three feet of water. The washer and dryer were in three feet of water. My beautiful old teak dresser was taking on more water.

We went upstairs, hoping the waters would not follow us up the stairs. It was 4:30 in the morning and neither of us could think, much less walk or talk.

We closed the door to the basement and collapsed onto the couch.

Next part of the story: Shock after the Flood.

Our living room with all of the stuff that we "saved":





Next part of the story: Shock after the flood.

The River Watch Saturday night

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

It was still raining Saturday night, and I walked the street with my raincoat on, soaked anyway.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube. It was taken about two blocks west of our house, on the other side of the flooded park:



Flood from Avers and Foster on YouTube .

We didn't have any water in our street on Saturday afternoon, but with floods all around us, I was worried.

I kept going back to the river. I had spotted a tree and that tree was my guidepost. The river rose past that tree. Would the river rise over the little hill that separated the bicycle path from the alley and the homes on our street?

I went out to the front of our house. I walked down to the river. I had a guidepost up there also.... Would the river rise above that guidepost and start to inundate our street as it had inundated the 5000 blocks of Monticello and Central Park?

Sometime in the evening the water did start to tumble into our street. It stayed in the street, just in front of the southernmost houses on our street, and it didn't go up the lawns to people's houses. Maybe that was a good sign!

I watched all evening, in my raincoat, until 9 or 10 o'clock. The river didn't seem to be getting any higher on the far southern side of our street. Perhaps we were going to be o.k.

In our home, down in our family room, we were still safe and sound.

And then we heard water.

Just a few drops, but it was definitely water. Where was it coming from?

It was in the laundry room. Behind the refrigerator. Paul pulled the refrigerator away from the wall, and we saw a trickle of water underneath it. Just a trickle.

Maybe there was something wrong with the refrigerator?

No such luck... we noticed drops emerging from heretofore-unnoticed cracks in the basement floor around the drain in the laundry room. First just one little rivulet from one tiny crack, then another. But the water was dripping from those little cracks right into the drain, so that wasn't much of a problem. Nothing else in the basement seemed wet.

I went back to watch t.v., Paul was out in the garage doing something. And then I noticed that I didn't hear that little flow of water anymore.

Maybe the water had stopped? Hopefully, I went over to the drain to look.

Then I saw why the flow of water had stopped making the little gurgling noise.

Next part of the story: Here comes the water!

Chicago River --- The North Branch

(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )

Most people think of the Chicago River as the large body of water that the city dyes green on St. Patrick's Day. The Chicago River runs through the heart of downtown and occasionally people are delayed as they have to wait for the bridges to open to allow tall boat traffic to pass along the river. People take Chicago River commuter boats from the train stations to work locations farther north near Michigan Boulevard.

There's been development along the river... walking paths have been built downtown and there has been recent house and condo construction on the near north side of the city.

As the river moves north, it becomes more pastoral, and boaters and kayakers are often seen on the Chicago River.

I always thought that the Chicago River continued north, through the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood, then following McCormick Boulevard, eventually winding up near the BaHai temple in Wilmette.

But only part of that stream is the Chicago River. The "real" Chicago River actually starts far north, in the Skokie lagoons, with various little branches that criss cross Glenview and other northern suburbs. There's a West Fork that bisects downtown Glenview. Sometimes it doesn't have any water in it. The creek that runs through the Wilmette golf course finds its way south to the Chicago River. These streams join and become the North Branch somewhere near the golf courses that border Golf Road in Glenview and Niles.

The river meanders south near Caldwell Avenue in Skokie, winding through... well, more golf courses. Someone with nothing better to do should count the number of golf courses that this river touches.

It finally crosses the Edens about 5600 north, and starts to head east. It crosses more parks, three cemeteries, our community (Albany Park/North Park), and North Park University before it waterfalls into the North Channel near Foster and Albany avenues. There's a park where the little North Branch meets the much larger North Channel, and it's a beautiful place for short hikes. Then the little branch heads south into the big Chicago River that is much better known.

When the Skokie lagoons and the various little streams in Glenview fill, the North Branch looks more like a stream than a creek. But that isn't too often and it still doesn't spill its banks.

But after the record-breaking rains of Friday night and Saturday morning, September 12 and 13, 2008, the various tributaries were full to capacity, sending torrents into the peaceful little stream and causing chaos in the city.

Next part of the story: River Watch Saturday Night