THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
Assessing The Damage, Door-To-Door
 Des Plaines resident Patricia Hoffman welcomes damage assessors to her Hawthorne Lane home Friday morning as clean-up from last week's flooding continues. (Tom Wessell/The Journal) |
Federal and state emergency management representatives continued to fan out over Des Plaines this week going door-to-door determining the extent of damage caused by the recent flooding that hit the Chicago region.
Their primary focus at this point is to identify how many homes and commercial buildings were destroyed or severely damaged by the flooding. Once that process is completed---possibly by the end of this week---that information will be used to try to convince federal authorities to declare that the area is eligible for federal assistance. That designation would pave the way for property owners to qualify for low interest loans and grants to pay for repairs.
The other focus of state and federal emergency management employees is to account for expenses incurred by local governments' handling of the flooding situation. "Extraordinary expenses" such as for fire and police overtime and to rent equipment can receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement of 75% of the total cost.
"What happened here recently is pretty much what happened here last August," said Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) communications manager Patti Thompson. Des Plaines alone was reimbursed over $1 million in expenses it incurred handling the storm that hit the city on Aug. 23.
Last Friday, a team of four federal and state emergency management workers, with city assistance, visited impacted areas of the community such as Big Bend Drive. They walked form house-to-house along Hawthorne Drive and in other neighborhoods talking with homeowners and assessing damage. Similar assessments are being made across seven counties in the Chicago area.
"When we start we don't stop," said Dave Smith of IEMA.
"We never have a dollar amount," said Thompson referring to individual home and businesses assessments.
Instead, they work on identifying the number of properties that suffered extraordinary damage. No figures are yet available how much the city spent to fight flooding.
"The problem is over with the water receding," said Mayor Tony Arredia yesterday (Tuesday). "The damage numbers are substantial. I think we did a good job collecting peoples' garbage. Year in and year out we have around $20 million in flood damage in the Des Plaines River watershed. Why does it take so long? The price of handling this continues to escalate."
As of late Monday afternoon, the level of the Des Plaines River in Des Plaines stood at 1.55-feet. Flood stage is 5-feet. At the height of flooding about a week ago, the level of the River exceeded 10-feet.
The city said that ARC Disposal will resume landscape waste collection this week, adding that residents with flood damage items should put those items a the street curb for collection.