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As neighborhoods like Albany Park and many suburbs begin to dry out and clean up from this weekend's flooding, residents are beginning to ask for help from the federal government. Senator Dick Durbin was joined by 39th Ward Alderman Margaret Laurino, and a representative from Barack Obama's office to get a first-hand look at the massive flooding that happened from this weekend's intense rains. Said Durbin:
This has been devastating. A lot of these folks don't have insurance to cover this. One hundred billion gallons of water dumped on any community . . . is something you can't prepare for. I think when we need FEMA, they will be here.Many residents, such as Aaron Gadiel, personally approached Durbin to ask for help. "Please help us," Gadiel asked Durbin.
For once, Gov. Blagojevich seems to be doing his part. While visiting a Des Plaines shelter for flood victims, he declared seven counties disaster areas: Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will. Blagojevich also took to the air to survey the damage. His declaration "allows the state to supply assets and emergency workers to areas affected by the flooding, and also opens up the opportunity for the state to ask for federal disaster assistance." In a statement, the Governor said:
Heavy rains over the weekend caused flooding in several parts of northeastern Illinois. The flood waters have caused widespread damage and forced many people from their homes and today I am declaring Cook and six other counties state disaster areas. I want to assure these affected communities that the state has been in contact with local officials since the rains began to offer any assistance as needed and we will continue to do everything possible to help them quickly recover from this flooding.
For more information on how you can help this weekend's local flood victims, head over to the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago website.
Image of Naperville flooding by Jeff Cagle
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That's interesting re flood insurance. I know that flood insurance is underwritten by the state based on whether you live in a flood zone, but it's unenforceable unless you have a mortgage on your home. If these folks were not in a flood zone and the damage was not from water backup (assuming they have that coverage) they would totally be screwed.
On that note, why don't national or local animal welfare socieities organize themselves to set up foster situations? I would totally sign up, but I don't know anyone who was flooded who also happens to have cats. Do your jobs, people!
Photos on Facebook
Here are some photos of the flooding on St. Louis Ave. Once the sandbags finally arrived (Monday morning around 2 a.m.), they got dumped in the street, right in front of my property, in effect keeping water from the street in and letting water from the river flow freely back into the street, making things worse for our street.
The sandbags obviously needed to be moved. I called the city many times (one helpful 311-employee gave me the number for the Red Cross's HR department...), but to no avail. Many city workers were standing around, while we were asking them for help. Finally some neighbors and I decided to take matters into our own hands and move the sandbags. The street was clear within an hour.
First of all, why did it take until Monday 2 a.m. for sandbags to arrive, while other streets were already sandbagged (they took them away yesterday in a matter of minutes, to keep up appearances, maybe?) Second, why did neither 311 nor 911 know anything (the alderman's office was closed on the weekend, after the weekend they were pretty responsive)? Third, why was there was a complete lack of proper communication to the neighborhood and direction to the many city workers?
I don't want to diminish the hard work of countless city workers and volunteers (a certain Mark from Evanston came down on his bike to help us on Monday, for example). But there are some big questions to be answered.