Mop in hand and eyes to the sky, weary Chicago-area homeowners continued to clean up–and total up–the damage Sunday from the flooding that resulted from last week`s record rainfall and was aggravated by a late-evening thuderstorm.
After a day of watching waters recede from flooded streets and damp basements, residents thought the worst was over until a heavy thunderstorm rolled through portions of the area Sunday night. Accompanied by winds gusting up to 60 miles an hour and hail three-quarters of an inch in diameter, another 2.7 inches of rain fell at O`Hare International Airport in less than two hours.
What one forecaster called an ”intense” storm, heralded by lightning and thunder, put flood victims on the defensive again and created new fears.
Widespread power outages were reported in the Chicago area, disabling sump pumps and plunging previously unaffected areas into darkness.
Commonwealth Edison Co., swamped with calls, did not have specific figures for the homes affected Sunday night.
”It hit all over,” said Edison spokeswoman LaVerne Gothberg. ”This has been particularly bad. I know it`s bad when they can`t even give us the information.”
Despite the storm, authorities were optimistic that most roads and all major expressways would be open Monday and that the morning rush hour would be better than Friday`s nightmare–as long the rain forecast for early Monday was as light as predicted.
Relief was seen in forecasts for a dry spell this week and the expectation that Gov. James Thompson will ask that the flooded region be declared a national disaster area. Cook and Du Page Counties already have been named state disaster areas.
Only 0.15 of an inch of rain was recorded Sunday morning at O`Hare, which returned to normal after Friday`s freakish shutdown and Saturday`s frenzy as travelers tried to make up for their lost day.
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O`Hare recorded 0.59 of an inch of rain Saturday, bringing the four-day total through noon Sunday to 10.09 inches, according to figures from the Central Weather Service.
A little more than 13 inches has fallen for the month now, putting August in line to become the ”wettest month ever,” said Don Morrison, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. The record was 14.17 inches in September, 1986.
According to American Red Cross damage estimates, about 5,700 area homes were damaged by the flooding and heavy rains–2,200 of them with major problems. But Greg Durham, a spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said the estimate is probably too low.
”We think that`s extremely conservative,” Durham said. ”Because of hidden damage, it will be closer to 10,000 homes,” affecting 50,000 or more people.
The state disaster agency was preparing to begin official damage estimates Monday in northern Du Page and Cook Counties, and federal officials were expected to do the same, Durham said. Such action is the first step toward seeking federal disaster status, he said.
”Obviously, we`re over the hump,” Durham said. ”Now we`re getting to the part where we try to get as many programs as possible for these people.” He said ”there`s a very good chance” that Thompson would ask President Reagan for disaster status. Federal aid in such a situation would include low- interest loans, insurance, emergency housing and other grants.
Many public agencies were pointing toward the restoration of normal services Monday. The Chicago Transit Authority planned to put the Skokie Swift rapid-transit line back in service Sunday.
The swollen Des Plaines River and Salt Creek were receding slowly, and just about all of Chicago`s beaches were reopened.
But normalcy was a matter of perspective Sunday, as workers for the Red Cross, the Illinois National Guard, the state emergency services agency and many villages put in another long day.
For some flood victims, the weekend brought a sickening feeling of deja vu, as the cleanup ritual resembled the aftermath of last October`s flooding along the Des Plaines River.
”Many of these people along the river have been hit twice now,”
Durham said. ”The financial and emotional strain is almost more than they can take. They`re crushed.
”The last time there was a flood, in October, the area was declared a national disaster area. People are just as hard hit this time.”
”We`re just outraged,” said Brenda Banach of River Forest, whose home was flooded for the second time in less than a year. ”One act of God is acceptable. The second time you begin to wonder if it is an act of God.
”We just fixed it, we just replaced everything. The washer, dryer and the hot-water heater. It`s just disgusting.”
Being hit the first time wasn`t any easier.
”We`ve lost everything,” said Gail Bedard, who was forced to abandon her Wood Dale home Friday with her husband, Irv.
Her basement was flooded from floor to ceiling, and the first floor had buckled, she said. So distraught was Bedard that she went to the village hall and ended up in a shouting match with Mayor Jerry Greer over the town`s flood planning and security along the abandoned streets.
”You almost want to cry with what people have at the curb,” he said.
”Luckily, I don`t believe in finished basements, but a lot of people do.”
Emotions to such tragedy ran the gamut from anger and frustration to wry stoicism.
”The whole town was under water, basically,” said Wes Cassidy, a Rosemont resident on vacation with his family in Michigan when the flooding hit. ”I`m just sorry I didn`t get to see it. Since I have to pay the costs, I should have gotten to see the show.”
The floodwaters unfinished his finished basement. A slate-top pool table was in the front yeard waiting to be hauled away. A vanity holding muddy roller skates had been set outside. The house, once up for sale, did not seem very marketable Sunday.
”It`s a big ugly inconvenience, but nothing we won`t survive,” Cassidy said.
On some streets in Addison, the water level had dropped by two feet Sunday afternoon–and remained at least four feet high, lapping at living-room windows.
”We`ve always wanted to own lakefront property,” said Altha Sikes, of South Wisconsin Avenue. Residents, she said, have renamed the street ”Lake Wisconsin.”
Piles of soggy rugs, appliances and furniture set out on countless curbs made the suffering suburbs resemble a garage sale gone awry. But the weather didn`t deter one Elmhurst couple from proceeding with the real thing.
Tony and Vergilia Pieniazek, of York Street, strung red-and-white plastic banners in the trees across their front yard and beckoned anyone in a mood to bargain.
They were pleased to find takers–many of whom were looking to replace items they had lost to the waters.
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”Most people are asking for furniture and appliances, and baby clothes for their kids,” said Vergilia Pieniazek. ”I guess they lost all that, so they were glad to get it.”
About 40,000 suburban residents were without telephone service Sunday, and 1,300 more residents suffered the summer heat without electricity, officials said.
A spokesman for Illinois Bell said the loss of service to 30,000 homes in the Roselle area was the worst for customers since the early 1950s, when a fire gutted a switching station in Roselle. Residents of Roselle and Bloomingdale and parts of Schaumburg are expected to be without telephone service into the middle of the week, said the spokesman, Richard Hill.
Hill said that Monday morning, which traditionally brings the most calls, could create new frustrations in the form of delayed dial tones in some areas. Furthermore, he said, as homeowners return to their dwellings, the company could receive more reports of interrupted phone service this week.
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation provided bulk pickup of damaged property in five wards for the second day Sunday. Besides the 36th, 38th, 39th, 41st and 45th Wards, the extra service will be provided this week in the 47th Ward.
The water that washed out homes and businesses prompted the Red Cross to begin a national mobilization, said spokesman Fred Sabine of the Mid America chapter. Emergency vehicles were being brought from Cincinnati and 60 staff members were en route to the Chicago area from other cities.
”We`re not gearing down; we`re gearing up a little up bit,” Sabine said. ”It`s just another day of mopping up and throwing out all the waterlogged furniture.”
Two Red Cross shelters remained open Sunday: York High School, 355 W. St. Charles Rd., Elmhurst, and Rolling Meadows High School, 2901 Central Rd., Rolling Meadows.
Among those laboring for the recently created County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, part of the Cook County Sheriff`s office, were
”volunteers” convicted of driving under the influence and sentenced to community service.
”Yeah, they`re filling up sandbags right now and putting them down in the water,” said John Hicke, coordinator of the agency.