The Chicago area escaped a weekend flood threat with only minor problems as a soggy weather system moved eastward, promising to give way to sunshine on Sunday.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said meteorologist Christine Krause of the National Weather Service, “because the ground is still frozen, and rain falling on top of the snowpack causes runoff.
“A lot of rivers are cresting above flood stage, but no one is being evacuated.”
The worst was over by Saturday afternoon, Krause added. The rain turned to wet snow and sleet Saturday night and was expected to yield to sunshine on Sunday.
Saturday’s rainfall was between one-quarter and one-half of an inch, Krause said, with the heaviest precipitation recorded in west suburban Willow Springs and south suburban Peotone. That came on top of the 3.55 inches of rain and the 29.3 inches of snow that had fallen previously this month.
Saturday’s worst problems were reported in southwest suburban Plainfield, where streets were flooded, sewers were backing up and Illinois Highway 59 was closed in both directions at the DuPage River viaduct, between 119th and 143rd Streets.
“Pretty much half the town is shut off,” a police dispatcher said. But no injuries were reported, no cars were swept away and there were no reports of home flooding as of Saturday afternoon.
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District officials reported no serious problems. Spokeswoman Peggy Bradley said gates in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Lockport that are used to control the speed of water flowing through the channels remained open to lower buildup. But the water level was still high enough for boats and barges to pass through.
“We don’t anticipate having to have the river flow back into the lake to relieve high water levels,” Bradley said. “Everything is holding.”
Activity at Chicago-area airports was almost back to normal Saturday after heavy fog in the area Friday, but there were delays, primarily due to weather problems in the Northeast, said Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman Dennis Culloton.
“It’s going well with a few minor exceptions,” Culloton said.
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About 70 basement floodings were reported in Chicago, according to Mike Kertez, spokesman for the city Department of Sewers, but there was no special alert. Kertez said the number of basement floodings was “not excessive,” since 20 or 30 could be expected after any rainstorm, even a relatively mild one.
“The worst of the rain went east and missed us,” Kertez said.
Bill Morris, a hydrologist at the weather service, said most streams in the area were expected to rise to above flood stage due to the snow melt and the rain of the preceding 48 hours. He said minor lowland flooding adjacent to the rivers was anticipated, but it was likely to affect mainly forest preserve, park and agricultural land.