Late Saturday morning it was 71 degrees and sunny, a perfect day for filling over 10,000 sandbags in the parking lot of Warren Township High School, off O’Plaine Road in Gurnee.
Tiara Harrell, 37, of Kenosha, Wisconsin heeded the village’s call at 9:30 a.m. for volunteers to fill sandbags after an Illinois friend told her about it. She was there when the village had enough bags on hand that they told volunteers to take a break and have some pizza.
“You don’t have to say that twice,” said Harrell’s 11-year-old son, Noah. After he came back with some pizza he was asked how many sand bags he had filled. He was quick to say, “I don’t know 400?” to which his mother replied “Noooo, I think it was about 50 bags. They’re heavy.”
“Well it felt like 200,” said Noah, who was also there with his sister, Naiima, 6.
Jack Linehan, assistant to the Gurnee village administrator and the head of public information, said they had sandbagged everywhere that was needed. The last chore they had for volunteers and public work employees was to stack the bags on pallets, in case other residents needed them depending on whether it rained Saturday night or Sunday morning.
“We had over 150 volunteers,” he said.
Besides the sandbags, Jersey barriers, cement dividers often used on highway construction sites to keep traffic away from workers, were also brought in and some were used at the Gurnee Community Church.
Linehan said they were still forecast to have less of a crest than 2017, when Gov. Bruce Rauner came to tour the area and waited several hours before declaring the county a disaster area.
“It all depends on the rain,” he said.
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Station 1 of the Gurnee Fire Department on Old Grand Avenue has moved equipment to the police station on O’Plaine Road. As of Saturday afternoon, Route 132 from Route 21 to O’Plaine Road in Gurnee was closed and Old Grand Avenue from Route 132 to First Street was closed. O’Plaine Road is closed from Route 132 to Old Grand Avenue.
Nikki Behler, officer manager for the Gurnee Community Church on Old Grand Avenue, said they had about 40 people come to the church to sand bag and put the Jersey barriers in place.
“The water is still rising but we’re not quite there yet,” she said Saturday, but the church is an old hand at preparation and riding out the deluge. In true neighborly fashion, the church volunteers sandbagged the Dairy Queen first.
“They always flood first so we sandbagged them first,” she said.
“It’s always a guessing game,” she said. “We’re very thankful for the volunteers.”
Beth Strautz, spokesman for the Marriott Resort in Lincolnshire, said in a release that the hotel evacuated all the guests and staff from the hotel Friday and they will not re-open until the village gives the OK. The theater production “Something Rotten” was canceled for the entire weekend.
“At this time the resort has not flooded and is not at risk for flooding due to the proactive steps taken by the resort’s management team,” according to the statement.
The National Weather Service was calling for an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms Saturday night and 60 percent for Sunday morning.
A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for locales near and north of Interstate 88. There is a flood warning for the Des Plaines River in Russell, Gurnee and Lincolnshire and for the Fox River near New Munster, Wisconsin, which is right before the river enters Illinois and the Chain O’Lakes.
The Des Plaines River flood warning runs through Thursday, according to the weather service.