The intense storm of last Friday night and Saturday morning that pummeled parts of Lake County also led to some issues in Glencoe, highlighted by the flooding of a downtown underpass.
Public Works Director David Mau said the village received 2.8 inches overnight Friday and into Saturday. The vast amount of water left the Hazel Avenue viaduct with excess water for several hours.
One driver was left temporarily stranded in the underpass, but was able to get out on their own with a rescue not required, according to Public Safety Director Cary Lewandowski.
Mau added barricades in place when heavy rainstorms occur alerting drivers of potential dangers.
“Anytime you are entering water that you do not know how deep it is, you do so at your own risk,” Mau said.
Beyond the underpass, other village flooding procedures kicked into place Friday night.
“It was a heavy enough rainstorm that the sanitary sewers were charged at full capacity,” Mau explained.
Mau said village officials received only a few calls for flooded houses and some trees fell, but they were cleared by Saturday morning.
The Hazel Avenue underpass has been vulnerable to flooding in the past, but the village administration has not renovated the viaduct citing the potential cost of greater than $1 million.
“We did invest in some money in flood controls for Village Hall in order to limit any impact of underpass flooding but the cost to fully eliminate flooding at that Hazel Avenue underpass is prohibitive,” Village Manager Phil Kiraly said.
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In adjoining areas to Glencoe, representatives from Wilmette, Northfield, Kenilworth and Winnetka indicated their communities also received large amounts of rain, but did not suffer any serious damage.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.