Or, more precisely, my neighborhood is. From ABC 7 Chicago:
A water main break on flooded at least three blocks in Chicago’s Sauganash neighborhood Wednesday morning. A portion of North Kilpatrick Avenue is under at least a foot of water.
The Department of Water Management was notified of the break in the 5900-block of North Kilpatrick Avenue around 3 a.m. An official said a valve failed and crews are having a hard time shutting it off. The water was still gushing out as of 6:50 a.m. They opened up man holes and trying to unclog sewers to ease the pressure.
Kilpatrick is closed between North Caldwell and West Peterson avenues. Caldwell and North Knox Avenue east of Peterson are also closed.
No water in my basement, thank goodness, but our cars are flooded and all of the streets around us are closed. No idea how much damage the cars incurred. It’s possible they’re totaled.
I didn’t notice anything until I stepped out the door to walk the dogs. I guess this explains why I woke at 4:00am.
It’s a bit cold for treading water.
Update
The city just managed to turn off the water. The good news is that the water is starting to recede; the bad news is that we have no water.
They opened the sewers several hours ago to allow the water to drain more easily which it couldn’t do until they managed to turn off the water. That means that all of that water out there has mixed with sewer water which in turn means that I can’t even walk to the corner without wading through two feet of sewage for 150 yards.
To add to the humor of the situation today was trash pickup day which means there are bags of trash floating all over the neighborhood. Who knows where they’ll end up?
Update 2
We’ve already got people going up and down the street selling flood repair services. Fortunately for us, it’s not something we need. Some of our neighbors are not as fortunate.
Update 3
We’ve already called our insurance company; our cars are covered. After they reopen our street the next step will be having the cars towed to the dealership for checkout and possible repair.
Update 4
There’s water inside the cars. In all likelihood both are totaled.
Update 5
The street has been reopened. We’re just waiting for tow trucks now. Fortunately, we have AAA.
It’s never a good sign when ‘Chopper Seven’ is hovering over your street.
So. Now how do you feel about infrastructure spending?
Sadly, infrastructure spending is unlikely to have done anything to prevent this problem. The problem seems to have been induced by the city’s lousy maintenance.
It’s not enough to build roads and sewers; they’ve got to be maintained and that doesn’t usually come out of infrastructure spending budgets.
I’m not opposed to infrastructure spending; I just think that Chicago should be paying Chicago’s operating expenses. I also don’t think that infrastructure spending does as much to stimulate the economy as its proponents believe.
Here in Chicago decades of mismanagement mean that we’re spending a huge chunk of budget that could be spent on operating expenses paying the pensions of retired city employees and interest on the money that’s been borrowed.
Our real estate taxes have doubled since the last triennial reappraisal. We can afford that but if it doubles again we could be forced out of our home. We’re among the people that Chicago probably doesn’t want to see leave.
Wow Dave! I assume your cars were parked on the street? How high did the water get there?
At least you still have internet – people these days think it’s more important than water. I hope your insurance process goes smoothly and equitably.
There was about two feet of water in the street. The water covered the street from curb to curb, over the lawn, across the sidewalk, and another couple of feet towards the house. We got just a few drops of water in the basement, near the front of the house. Nothing troubling on that account.
Now we’re making arrangements to have the cars towed to the dealerships for a quote on repairs if feasible, rentals, etc.
Look at the bright side. Imagine a week long arctic blast going on right now. “And at left wing for the Sauganash Blackhawks, Dave Schuler.”
I hope that the people whose homes got damaged had flood insurance. (The National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book)
To my knowledge, the sewerage and drainage systems are not connected, but I seem to recall one of the small cities having the drainage system overflow into the sewers with street flooding causing a similar problem.
Whomever decided to open the sewers should be “taken out and shot” (a figure of speech). With clean floodwater, things can be salvaged, but you all will need to toss or sanitize/sterilize everything.
I would be wary of your drinking water, also. Normally, it should not be able to seep into the pipes, but the people of Flint, MI thought they were safe. I realize that “white privilege” is supposed to be some sort of racist superpower, but contrary to popular misbelief, E. coli, cholera, etc. do not discriminate.
Yeah, if we had the polar express right about now everything would be frozen over and it could be weeks before we got out.