(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )
Earlier today I read that the normal depth of the Chicago River North Branch is all of two feet! (Sorry, I can't find the link.)
It had crested at 8 feet and caused such a mess.
A two-foot deep river!
(Next post: Restoring DVD's )
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Flood plains and furnaces
(Our personal flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )
I just had to find those online FEMA flood plain maps again. I remember carefully checking them before we bought this house to ascertain that this house, as close to the river as it is, is not on a flood plain. It is not. But, I was somewhat surprised to see, the houses on the other side of the river, on the 5000 block of Monticello (which became part of the river during the flood) are on a flood plain, though I can't remember which exact "level" of flood plain. In fact the marking on the flood plain map followed the path that the river took down the 5000 block of Monticello very closely. I suppose I can say that, for us, this is just a 100 year flood. I hope.
(I just heard that these flood plain maps were changed very recently. If so, that is why I didn't remember any of the residential neighborhoods around here as being on a flood plain. That's disturbing. You buy a home that isn't on a flood plain, and then it is. I didn't know that could happen.)
I believe that I will never feel the same way about rain, especially if thunderstorms and heavy rains are predicted. I find myself getting tense if even a little rain is predicted. This summer I've watched the people of Iowa, western Illinois and Missouri who struggled with the floods. I was watching news about Hurricane Ike the same morning that the Chicago River was overflowing! But living through the mess and the rebuilding is different than watching these things on the news.
There must be some PTSD (post-traumatic stress) for all of us who have lived with this kind of destruction and loss.
I now have a shiny new furnace and a shiny new hot water heater. The shiny new hot water heater replaced the shiny new hot water heater that we just put in last January, unfortunately. But the old furnace was 15 years old. All of the work was done in a few hours, and we were able to enjoy hot showers last night.
We've spent over $2,000 so far including the down payment on the furnace/water heater, and other bills are late. We've only begun. The washer/dryer, all of the furniture down there, the wallboard; all a loss. Thank heavens we have some insurance, but it won't come anywhere close to covering most of this.
(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Normal Depth of the Chicago River is Two Feet! )
I just had to find those online FEMA flood plain maps again. I remember carefully checking them before we bought this house to ascertain that this house, as close to the river as it is, is not on a flood plain. It is not. But, I was somewhat surprised to see, the houses on the other side of the river, on the 5000 block of Monticello (which became part of the river during the flood) are on a flood plain, though I can't remember which exact "level" of flood plain. In fact the marking on the flood plain map followed the path that the river took down the 5000 block of Monticello very closely. I suppose I can say that, for us, this is just a 100 year flood. I hope.
(I just heard that these flood plain maps were changed very recently. If so, that is why I didn't remember any of the residential neighborhoods around here as being on a flood plain. That's disturbing. You buy a home that isn't on a flood plain, and then it is. I didn't know that could happen.)
I believe that I will never feel the same way about rain, especially if thunderstorms and heavy rains are predicted. I find myself getting tense if even a little rain is predicted. This summer I've watched the people of Iowa, western Illinois and Missouri who struggled with the floods. I was watching news about Hurricane Ike the same morning that the Chicago River was overflowing! But living through the mess and the rebuilding is different than watching these things on the news.
There must be some PTSD (post-traumatic stress) for all of us who have lived with this kind of destruction and loss.
I now have a shiny new furnace and a shiny new hot water heater. The shiny new hot water heater replaced the shiny new hot water heater that we just put in last January, unfortunately. But the old furnace was 15 years old. All of the work was done in a few hours, and we were able to enjoy hot showers last night.
We've spent over $2,000 so far including the down payment on the furnace/water heater, and other bills are late. We've only begun. The washer/dryer, all of the furniture down there, the wallboard; all a loss. Thank heavens we have some insurance, but it won't come anywhere close to covering most of this.
(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Normal Depth of the Chicago River is Two Feet! )
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Albany Park flood water is gone!
(Our personal Albany Park flood story, complete with pictures, starts at Albany Park floods-- Record-breaking rains. )
I went to my friend's house Monday night. She has been gracious enough to allow us to shower at her home, and she fed us on Sunday night. The water had started to recede in our basement, but we still had about 18 inches to two feet of water down there when I left for her home Monday evening. A neighbor told me that he would come by with a generator when I got home and he would help us pump out the rest of the water. (My husband was working.)
But when I got home after dinner, about 9 p.m., the water was gone! I took my flashlight (as we still didn't have any electricity) and cautiously and anxiously ventured down the stairs.
The wall-to-wall carpeting was still very squishy, all kinds of stuff had just piled up in various corners to which it had floated, most of our furniture was ruined..... Obviously a huge amount of work awaited us, and things were already beginning to smell musty.
The pictures tell the story of what was left better than I ever could.
More mess pics on Flickr
( Next part of the Albany Park flood story: Depression and grief.)
I went to my friend's house Monday night. She has been gracious enough to allow us to shower at her home, and she fed us on Sunday night. The water had started to recede in our basement, but we still had about 18 inches to two feet of water down there when I left for her home Monday evening. A neighbor told me that he would come by with a generator when I got home and he would help us pump out the rest of the water. (My husband was working.)
But when I got home after dinner, about 9 p.m., the water was gone! I took my flashlight (as we still didn't have any electricity) and cautiously and anxiously ventured down the stairs.
The wall-to-wall carpeting was still very squishy, all kinds of stuff had just piled up in various corners to which it had floated, most of our furniture was ruined..... Obviously a huge amount of work awaited us, and things were already beginning to smell musty.
The pictures tell the story of what was left better than I ever could.
More mess pics on Flickr
( Next part of the Albany Park flood story: Depression and grief.)
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.
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.
Record-Breaking Chicago Rains -- Chicago River rising
The Chicago River flooded and overflowed into the Albany Park neighborhood of the city of Chicago over the weekend of September 12-14, 2008. This is our personal account of our efforts to deal with and recover from the event now known as the Albany Park flood.
I think I'm still in shock, as I haven't cried yet. I'm trying hard to keep my mind from fixating on loss, but it's tough.
2008 has been a difficult year for us for many reasons. Paul had spinal surgery early in the year, then he was beset with shingles, a miserable and painful disorder, then a "bone contusion" in his foot. He was still having problems with his neck and arm, but I had been feeling that we perhaps had gotten over the worst of it.
But then came Saturday the 13th of September.
Friday the 12th was my birthday. My husband and I hadn't had much of a celebration as he had to work until 8, but he was hoping to get out by 5-6 o'clock on Saturday so we could go out for pizza. I was looking forward to it, as we really needed a "date".
I was sitting in my lovely family room Saturday afternoon watching reports of the destruction of Hurricane Ike, and I was going to meet one of my friends for coffee. Just as I was about to leave, I got an automated call from the city of Chicago: "Please remove your cars from the street as we are going to begin sandbaggging efforts." Sandbagging? I knew it had been raining, but sandbags?
We live near a small branch (the North Branch) of the Chicago River... The river is nothing more than a small picturesque stream as it runs by the bicycle path and the park at the end of the block. It's a beautiful neighborhood, one of the best affordable neighborhoods in the city. Single family homes, parks and trees and the little river give the neighborhood a suburban feel. The neighborhood is vital and ethnically mixed, close to public transportation, and it is safe and quiet. Perfect in so many ways and beautiful.
Our basement is completely finished as a family room/bedroom .... recessed lighting, wall-to-wall carpeting, painted walls, full finished bath. My son (17 when we moved) has his bedroom upstairs, on the main level, and we were downstairs.. plenty of privacy for all of us. When we were househunting three years ago and saw the rehabbed brick home with a finished basement... half a block from that
beautiful little stream..., we knew we were home!
We carefully investigated the flood potential of that little stream, and we were consistently reassured. No, we are not on a flood plain. The inspector thought our sewer and drainage system was excellent. The people who lived on the street, a street of solid brick homes all built 50 years ago, assured us that they had not any flooding. Plus we are higher than the park just a block away... and we are higher than the people who lived on the block south of the river.
Back to Saturday... I looked out the front of our house to the street... It was steadily raining, but there was no evidence of anything amiss. I ran out the back of the house to the alley and down to the river to see what was going on... and my heart sank. I was astonished and terrified to see that the pretty little stream had blown its banks and had crept higher up the embankment than I had ever seen it. I walked over to the bridge and saw that the houses to the south of the river were inundated.
The river had expanded to fill half of the 5000 block of Monticello.
While people were sandbagging, the water was rising faster than the bags could be filled. City tow trucks were pulling out cars that were stuck in the rising waters.
The water was washing up approximately one foot against the home that was closest to the stream on the south side of the river. The bicycle path was submerged on the other side of the bridge and impassable. Only the tops of the park benches poked their heads out of the water.
What I hadn't known was that the rain on Friday night and Saturday morning was the heaviest ever recorded in Chicago. And it had come down fast!
On Saturday afternoon it was still raining; the river was still rising. Where would it stop?
North Branch of the Chicago River: Next part of the Albany Park flood story
(Click on the pictures for the full effect.)
More pictures at Flickr:
Flood pictures at Flickr
Next part of the Albany Park flood story
I think I'm still in shock, as I haven't cried yet. I'm trying hard to keep my mind from fixating on loss, but it's tough.
2008 has been a difficult year for us for many reasons. Paul had spinal surgery early in the year, then he was beset with shingles, a miserable and painful disorder, then a "bone contusion" in his foot. He was still having problems with his neck and arm, but I had been feeling that we perhaps had gotten over the worst of it.
But then came Saturday the 13th of September.
Friday the 12th was my birthday. My husband and I hadn't had much of a celebration as he had to work until 8, but he was hoping to get out by 5-6 o'clock on Saturday so we could go out for pizza. I was looking forward to it, as we really needed a "date".
I was sitting in my lovely family room Saturday afternoon watching reports of the destruction of Hurricane Ike, and I was going to meet one of my friends for coffee. Just as I was about to leave, I got an automated call from the city of Chicago: "Please remove your cars from the street as we are going to begin sandbaggging efforts." Sandbagging? I knew it had been raining, but sandbags?
Our Albany Park / North Park Neighborhood
We live near a small branch (the North Branch) of the Chicago River... The river is nothing more than a small picturesque stream as it runs by the bicycle path and the park at the end of the block. It's a beautiful neighborhood, one of the best affordable neighborhoods in the city. Single family homes, parks and trees and the little river give the neighborhood a suburban feel. The neighborhood is vital and ethnically mixed, close to public transportation, and it is safe and quiet. Perfect in so many ways and beautiful.
Our basement is completely finished as a family room/bedroom .... recessed lighting, wall-to-wall carpeting, painted walls, full finished bath. My son (17 when we moved) has his bedroom upstairs, on the main level, and we were downstairs.. plenty of privacy for all of us. When we were househunting three years ago and saw the rehabbed brick home with a finished basement... half a block from that
beautiful little stream..., we knew we were home!
We carefully investigated the flood potential of that little stream, and we were consistently reassured. No, we are not on a flood plain. The inspector thought our sewer and drainage system was excellent. The people who lived on the street, a street of solid brick homes all built 50 years ago, assured us that they had not any flooding. Plus we are higher than the park just a block away... and we are higher than the people who lived on the block south of the river.
The Albany Park flood begins Saturday afternoon
Back to Saturday... I looked out the front of our house to the street... It was steadily raining, but there was no evidence of anything amiss. I ran out the back of the house to the alley and down to the river to see what was going on... and my heart sank. I was astonished and terrified to see that the pretty little stream had blown its banks and had crept higher up the embankment than I had ever seen it. I walked over to the bridge and saw that the houses to the south of the river were inundated.
The river had expanded to fill half of the 5000 block of Monticello.
While people were sandbagging, the water was rising faster than the bags could be filled. City tow trucks were pulling out cars that were stuck in the rising waters.
The water was washing up approximately one foot against the home that was closest to the stream on the south side of the river. The bicycle path was submerged on the other side of the bridge and impassable. Only the tops of the park benches poked their heads out of the water.
What I hadn't known was that the rain on Friday night and Saturday morning was the heaviest ever recorded in Chicago. And it had come down fast!
On Saturday afternoon it was still raining; the river was still rising. Where would it stop?
North Branch of the Chicago River: Next part of the Albany Park flood story
(Click on the pictures for the full effect.)
More pictures at Flickr:
Flood pictures at Flickr
Next part of the Albany Park flood story
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