As April showers fall, Albany Park residents are holding their breath.
Two years ago, the neighborhood was recovering from heavy rains and rising river levels that left basements underwater and possessions destroyed.
Maria Quinlan, who has lived on North Central Park Avenue for nearly 11 years, said the water’s path barely missed her house twice before and she can’t help but watch the river through her window every time it rains.
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“Are we going to get hit again?” she said. “Are we going to last a third time?”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Margaret Laurino, 39th, introduced an ordinance Wednesday authorizing the execution of an agreement between the city Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to share the cost of building a stormwater tunnel that will help protect the vulnerable neighborhood from future flooding.
“Many hardworking residents of Albany Park have had their lives turned upside down by severe flooding,” Laurino said in a statement. “The construction of the storm water diversion tunnel will give them a chance to achieve the comfort in their own homes that all Chicagoans should be afforded.”
The city and the water district met with residents recently to talk about plans to begin the long-awaited tunnel this summer. But the $45 million to $55 million project will take two years to complete.
Until the tunnel is built, Shylo Bisnett, president of Albany Park Neighbors, said community members are concerned about emergency response in case of another flood. She said she wonders whether it will be different from what she called “a couple of poor showings” during the major floods of 2008 and 2013, when sandbags were not delivered on time or at all.
On Sept. 13, 2008, Chicago set a record for most rainfall in a single day after 6.64 inches of rain was recorded at O’Hare International Airport. Albany Park was among the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the city with thousands of homes evacuated because of flooding over that weekend. Chicago set another record for rain in 2013, with 5.55 inches April 17 and 18, according to the National Weather Service. Then-Gov. Pat Quinn declared 38 counties, including Cook and all suburban counties, state disaster areas after extensive flood damage around Illinois.
Quinlan said neither residents nor officials expected the destruction that occurred after the 2008 flood. She said her in-laws lived in Albany Park for decades before she moved here and never experienced floods.
Communication and action improved between the 2008 and 2013 floods, Quinlan said. In 2013, she said, the response was faster and involved more sandbags and equipment, and she hopes it will only get better as the tunnel project moves forward.
“The noise from the citizens here has been loud enough,” she said.
Manuel Galvan, spokesman for Laurino, said the city has had an emergency plan for years.
A U.S. Geological Survey monitor is in place at the north branch of the river at Albany Avenue that measures water levels. Flooding occurs when the water level reaches 7 feet, he said. An action plan could be put in place at 5 feet depending on weather service forecasts. If that happened, several city departments, including the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, would work together to place sandbags and prevent damage.
After storms April 9, the peak water level in the afternoon reached nearly 3 feet at Albany Avenue, according the USGS monitor, and the level continued to rise to more than 5 feet the next day, but the rain had stopped, ending the threat. Gary Johnson, a hydrologist and engineer with USGS, said it’s not unusual for water to collect from smaller drainage points, slightly delaying the monitor’s response.
In February, city and state officials announced they had secured the funding needed for the tunnel project: $40 million will come from the city and water district and the remaining money will come from a federal Community Development Block Grant.
The tunnel will begin at Foster Avenue, north of Eugene Field Park, and extend east, letting out at River Park into the North Shore Channel. The tunnel, which will be 18 feet in diameter and about a mile long, begins 132 feet underground and ends at 155 feet underground.
“Overall I do think this is a good engineering approach to this problem,” said Bisnett, of the neighbors group. But in the meantime, “every time it rains, I’m going to be checking the state’s weather service … watching it tick, tick, tick up.”
The tunnel is in the design phase, which should be complete by the summer, Galvan said. The city’s next step is to seek bids before construction can begin.
Bisnett said she is eager to hear sounds of construction.
“I look forward to hearing the blasts, then I will know my community is being protected,” she said. “If there’s day-to-day drilling, we know it’s happening.”
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