Was in Elmhurst helping my parents today. Their basement flooded...sump pump didn't work. Elmhurst traffic was insane!! The highways are messed up, tons of side streets were closed. They got about 18" of water in the basement.
We got 7" - sump could not keep up, so got a couple inches in the basement. Now to dry and wash everything. Sigh. Got a bigger pump today and will use the old one as backup.
Just got home from my mom-in-law's house in Melrose Park. Two and a half feet in the basement--took us 3 hours to get there (normal time 1 hour). Spent the last nine hours getting water out, floating wood floor out (I don't think that was what manufacturer had in mind when they called it a floating floor--but it actually does float in a couple of feet of water), and over 30 years acumulation of junk (gas and electric bills from 30 years ago--wish we were paying those rates now). Pump never failed, it just rained too hard, too quick. Oh, but the street in front of her house was not flooded! (Down the next block had two feet of water.) We'll be back tomorrow after church with reinforcements (2 teens and adult child--yeah!) I told my hubby that I'm getting too old for disasters.
Brigitte - I live in Orland Park. I fought the village for 12 straight summers. I called every time they sent out a mosquito and standing water flyer. I called every time the police sat outside my house at 4 in the morning because they thought I was illegally watering. I called when the mail lady's truck slid on a 4feet of ice into my mailbox. Are you seeing the pattern here?? Every time they would send someone out to test the standing water because they felt it was a water leak but of course it wasn't. They said it would be fixed when it was time to redo the broken curbs in the area (which is every 15 yrs). Got passed by with that - then I exploded. Called the village every day - multi times and spoke to every person under the sun. Finally spoke to the engineer (it was more like crazy anger women on PMS and no coffee) He saw things my way 🙂 curb finally fixed. That's the short version of the story - hope it helps and gives you some ideas!!! Don't give up.
We were trying to get from Naperville to Chicago last night to see my brother and drove into the whole mess- with 290 being closed and 294 being a parking lot (in part b/c 290 was closed LOL). We diverted off the highway and tried taking Roosevelt/ Cermack/ etc to get around the flooding- BAD idea LOL- we ended up driving through all of Westchester before giving up and heading home! (Then we saw the article about Westchester being hit so hard, etc).
I remember 10 years or so ago when Naperville flooded horribly, my parents had over a foot of water in their basement. It was a pain (to say the least) to go through everything and get it all cleaned up- so I feel for everyone cleaning up after this storm!
Obviously things could have been much worse. The hard part is a)my first floor looks like a scene from Hoarders because all of the stuff from the basement is now on our first floor (and we have a SMALL house) and b) things are starting to smell a little funky. I hope everyone has a speedy recovery!
Oh my gosh, Jessica -- I was just reading about Westchester on the tribune site: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/07/thunderstorms-flash-flood-warnings-for-overnight.html CRAZY.
Was in Elmhurst helping my parents today. Their basement flooded...sump pump didn't work. Elmhurst traffic was insane!! The highways are messed up, tons of side streets were closed. They got about 18" of water in the basement.
We got 7" - sump could not keep up, so got a couple inches in the basement. Now to dry and wash everything. Sigh. Got a bigger pump today and will use the old one as backup.
using an old primary as a backup sump only works when the power is on and each pump has a discharge to the sewer/outside....
Just got home from my mom-in-law's house in Melrose Park. Two and a half feet in the basement--took us 3 hours to get there (normal time 1 hour). Spent the last nine hours getting water out, floating wood floor out (I don't think that was what manufacturer had in mind when they called it a floating floor--but it actually does float in a couple of feet of water), and over 30 years acumulation of junk (gas and electric bills from 30 years ago--wish we were paying those rates now). Pump never failed, it just rained too hard, too quick. Oh, but the street in front of her house was not flooded! (Down the next block had two feet of water.) We'll be back tomorrow after church with reinforcements (2 teens and adult child--yeah!) I told my hubby that I'm getting too old for disasters.
Darn. The worst part is, I think I see some coupons floating down the street.
Brigitte - I live in Orland Park. I fought the village for 12 straight summers. I called every time they sent out a mosquito and standing water flyer. I called every time the police sat outside my house at 4 in the morning because they thought I was illegally watering. I called when the mail lady's truck slid on a 4feet of ice into my mailbox. Are you seeing the pattern here?? Every time they would send someone out to test the standing water because they felt it was a water leak but of course it wasn't. They said it would be fixed when it was time to redo the broken curbs in the area (which is every 15 yrs). Got passed by with that - then I exploded. Called the village every day - multi times and spoke to every person under the sun. Finally spoke to the engineer (it was more like crazy anger women on PMS and no coffee) He saw things my way 🙂 curb finally fixed. That's the short version of the story - hope it helps and gives you some ideas!!! Don't give up.
Jessica - my 75 yr old aunt lives in Westchester. She is completely flooded. I feel for you!!!
We were trying to get from Naperville to Chicago last night to see my brother and drove into the whole mess- with 290 being closed and 294 being a parking lot (in part b/c 290 was closed LOL). We diverted off the highway and tried taking Roosevelt/ Cermack/ etc to get around the flooding- BAD idea LOL- we ended up driving through all of Westchester before giving up and heading home! (Then we saw the article about Westchester being hit so hard, etc).
I remember 10 years or so ago when Naperville flooded horribly, my parents had over a foot of water in their basement. It was a pain (to say the least) to go through everything and get it all cleaned up- so I feel for everyone cleaning up after this storm!
Obviously things could have been much worse. The hard part is a)my first floor looks like a scene from Hoarders because all of the stuff from the basement is now on our first floor (and we have a SMALL house) and b) things are starting to smell a little funky. I hope everyone has a speedy recovery!