Skokie Escapes Much of Street Flooding Wednesday

Written by Pam DeFiglio

An intense rainstorm in the early hours of Wednesday left Skokie with some flooded basements and standing water on streets for the earliest commuters.

The Edens Expressway was also closed at Pratt, and 735 Com Ed customers in Skokie were without power.

A 10 a.m. drive through the village showed most streets clear and free of water, however. At that hour, Skokie's neighbors to the west, including Morton Grove, Niles and Park Ridge, were still in flooding misery. Many north-south residential streets were still impassable due to standing water, and many people had put flood-damaged debris out for garbage collection.

Skokie Deputy Police Chief Michael Pechter theorized Skokie may have avoided major problems, overall, because the April 18 storm may have been a wakeup call to many residents to buy--or maintain-a sump pump, and consequently more sump pumps worked this time.

The flooding patterns weren't exactly the same, though. Dempster Street was open through Morton Grove Wednesday, whereas it was closed April 18 at the river.

"Every flood is a little different," said Morton Grove Village Administrator Ryan Van Horne.

In Niles, Village Manager Steve Vinezeano said village staff spent much of Wednesday talking with residents who flooded. The village board has approved spending $15 million for the first phase of a stormwater relief program, but it's still in the planning stages.
 
"This is simply a fight with mother nature and she seems to be winning," he wrote in an email to Patch. "At the end of the day, our goal is to win the war."

Like Skokie Patch on Facebook