Cleaning Up After The Storm

Niles residents were still recovering Monday from the violent storm that passed through late Friday evening and left many with flooded basements.

Salih Atic, a resident of Niles for six years, was at Home Depot shopping for a dehumidifier Monday afternoon. He said he worked with his family to remove about eight inches of water from their basement.

They began removing the water around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, Atic said, after his wife heard the family dog, a lhaso apso named Pujdo, barking and scratching at the basement door.

Atic said the next thing he’ll do is remove about 16 inches of drywall around the bottom of the walls.

“It’s a lot of work,” Atic said.

Atic was not alone. While there was no official count of homes with basements that flooded early Saturday morning, there are signs it impacted a large number of residents. Mounds of rolled carpet and piles of black trash bags lined neighborhood streets, and clean-up company vans were parked in many driveways.

Steven Vinezeano, assistant village manager, said for insurance reasons city workers aren’t allowed to work in residents’ basements, but they did respond to a wide variety of calls since the storm, and helped residents in any way they could.

Vinezeano said the village is nearing the end of a comprehensive study that will lead to improvements to Niles’ antiquated sewer system. He said a significant amount of things have been done by the Stormwater Commission in preparation for the improvements.

“But the meat and potatoes of it is going to be coming down within the next month or two, and then it’s just a matter of funding the plan,” Vinezeano said.

Niles residents weren’t the only ones that got water in their basements during the flash flood.

Marietta Leslie of Des Plaines said this was the fourth time in 40 years that her basement flooded. She and her husband Jim struggled to cut and remove the carpet in their basement. She said they worked all weekend cleaning up the mess, and still had the crawl space to work on.

“My Christmas tree is out in the yard,” Leslie said with a laugh.

It hasn’t been all smiles, though. Leslie, who has lived in Des Plaines for 64 years, said it’s getting to be too difficult for them to deal with a flooded basement. She said they are considering moving.

“We’re really at a point of crying,” Leslie said. “We’re so tired. I’ve got artificial knees, he’s got bad knees and leg, and this is just terrible.”

George Terzian of Maine Township said a film of water covered his basement floor, at its deepest about a half inch. Terzian, who was a Second Class Lithographer in the Navy from 1951 to 1955, had a simple solution for his un-carpeted floor.

“I mopped it!” Terzian said. “I’m an old sailor.”

For a flood safety checklist visit the Red Cross’ website.