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Maywood Officials Respond To Record May Flooding


Thursday, May 21, 2020 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews  

May isn’t even over yet and it’s already the rainiest May in Chicago history, making this the third consecutive record-breaking May in terms of rainfall in the area.

The National Weather Service reported that the city and suburbs got more than eight inches by May 19, as residents across Proviso Township complained of flooded basements, water seeping through the foundations of homes, flooded streets and overwhelmed water mains.

Earlier this week, the Maywood Board of Trustees and Maywood Village Manager Willie Norfleet Jr., moved to implement a series of actions to provide relief for village residents, including delivering sandbags to residents whose homes on Nichols Lane are on the water’s edge.

Norfleet called attention to the village’s Flood Control Assistance Program, which is administered on a first-come, first-served basis. The village pays half the price (up to $1,750) of installing one of three flood control options designed to control back flow. Those options include an overhead sewer, a basic back flow prevention valve, and a back flow prevention valve with a bypass pump.

Norfleet, who said that even his own Maywood block experienced flooding, explained that over the last few years, the village’s flood control program has been underutilized. He said that last year, the village reduced the program’s budget from $50,000 to $25,000, because residents were not sufficiently utilizing the program.

This year, however, Norfleet said that the village will provide the flood control program grants for all eligible homeowners who apply, even if it means increasing this year’s program budget.

“I’ve gotten many phone calls, especially from trustees and the mayor, indicating that the hazard from flooding is there,” Norfleet said on May 20. “After the initial stage of rain, there’s nothing that we’re really able to do, because we only have one vacuum truck and we’re talking massive water throughout the village. All you can do is wait for the water to recede.”

Norfleet said a day after Sunday’s downpour, he got reports that the water had mostly receded across the village.

“I physically saw the sewer shooting water in front of City Hall,” Norfleet said. “Maybe a third of Madison Street was filled with water. It was bad.”

Norfleet said that, despite the severity of this year’s flooding, at least two years of infrastructure improvements have helped alleviate some of the flooding in Maywood.

“Recently, any place where we’ve done street improvements, we’ve also made sure that we took care of the infrastructure underneath the streets,” Norfleet said. “As recently as five years ago, after raining, the whole Madison Street flooded. Since then, we’ve cleaned that up. The infrastructure works now.”

A section of Chicago Avenue, from Thatcher in River Forest to First Avenue in Maywood, which was flooded earlier this week. | Courtesy Rev. Elliot Wimbush 

Norfleet added that the installation of green alleys in Maywood has also helped alleviate flooding. The green alleys are designed to more effectively capture stormwater runoff and reduce residential flooding and basement backups.

Norfleet said the village received grants from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to install recently completed green alleys at 12th and 13th avenues, from Randolph to Oak streets; 15th and 16th avenues, between Warren and Washington; and 12th and 13th avenues, between Washington and Randolph.

This summer, the village will install additional green alleys on 2nd and 3rd avenues, between Green and Madison; 17th and 18th avenues, between Prairie Path and Madison; and 4th and 5th avenues, between Warren and Walnut. Those green alleys were funded through the Madison Street TIF district and are not exactly the same as MWRD-funded green alleys.

Other MWRD green alleys scheduled for completion are those on 21st and 20th, between Washington and Randolph; 21st and 20th, between Randolph and Oak; and 20th and 19th, between Randolph and Oak.

Norfleet cautioned residents that leaving yard debris like grass clippings, leaves and tree branches out in the street only exacerbate the flooding problem by “plugging up” the sewer system.

During a regular meeting on May 19, Maywood Mayor Edwenna Perkins urged board members to provide sandbags for homeowners on Nichols Lane, where properties are right on the edge of Silver Creek.

“Melrose Park was passing out sandbags to their residents on Nichols Lane,” Perkins said. “I know Maywood doesn’t do that, but I’m appealing to the board. Is there anyway the board will make a decision about getting sandbags to those people on Nichols Lane? Believe me, I got water and most people in my block got water, so I understand how those people on Nichols Lane feel.”

A day after Sunday’s rainfall, the section of Chicago Avenue, between Thatcher in River Forest and First Avenue in Maywood, was closed due to heavy rainfall that pooled on the street, which is just blocks from Nichols Lane.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted to direct village staffers to ask the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security for sandbags, and if the county can’t provide them to direct village staffers to find a way to purchase the sandbags and get them to Nichols Lane homeowners.

For residents in other areas of the village, Norfleet said that Republic, the village’s contracted waste hauler, will be picking up large bulk items that residents affected by the flood have started to sit out, for as long as the items are on the sidewalks.

June also happens to correspond with the Maywood’s spring cleaning, which is when Republic picks up large, bulky items on selected days of the week. Residents are asked to have their discarded items at garbage pickup on the Wednesday morning of the week Republic is scheduled to be in their neighborhood. The June bulky item pickup routes are as follows:

  • June 3 | Roosevelt north to 290 from 1st west to 25th ave
  • June 10 | I-290 north to madison greenwood west to 21st
  • June 17 | Madison north to railroad, 1st west to 21st
  • June 24 | Main street north to village limit, des plaines west to 9th ave.

Norfleet said, as for longer term flood relief, that will have to come from higher levels of authority, such as the state and federal governments.

“The governor will have to declare the area a disaster area for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] assistance to kick in,” Norfleet said. “If the governor declares a state of emergency, it’s then a matter of rounding up people in the village to put in an application and request from FEMA.”

On May 21, Gov. J.B. Pritzker “issued disaster proclamations for four rural counties along the Illinois River: Grundy, Pike, Scott and Morgan. Grundy County is southwest of Chicago, while the other three counties are in west-central Illinois,” according to Capitol News Illinois.

So far, however, no disaster proclamations have been issued for Chicago and the suburbs.

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