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ALL EMERGENCIES
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Special Edition-
This special edition is all about the flood that devastated parts of our community.
To make this newsletter easier to navigate, we've created several links. If a topic interests you, click on it.
Many, many homes and facilities had significant water damage as you probably know. Our volunteers did a fantastic job of filling sandbags, delivering them to affected structures, and performed a variety of other helpful tasks. I thank them individually below.
I personally was involved in pretty much the entire process and witnessed the terrific leadership from our elected officials: Township Highway Commissioner Rodger Edmonds, Township Supervisor Randy Whitmore, and Fire Chief Mark Kirschhoffer.
These dedicated men didn't just drive around in vehicles giving orders. They got involved and got their hands dirty. I saw Edmonds with hip waders on plunging through a couple feet of water to help sandbag a structure. Whitmore filled sandbags, stacked some on pallets, and loaded trucks. To be sure, picking up a big bag filled with 40# of wet sand isn't like flipping a frizbee in the park. And Kirschhoffer was everywhere rescuing and saving what he could.
Edmonds, Whitmore, and Kirschhoffer provided leadership by not only managing lifesaving and sandbagging operations, they also personally participated in the backbreaking, and sometimes heartbreaking, work. Thank you men!
Last, but certainly not least, a big thanks goes to Roger's wife, Toni. She was there every step of the way and worked as hard as any of those men!
Remember that you can forward this newsletter to others who might be interested in its content. If you know anyone who would like to receive future editions, all we need is an email address and no other information. Call it into the village hall or email it to me.
--Jim Zegar, Editor
jzegar@villageofwadsworth.org
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Do you have flood damage?
If you have flood damage, click HERE to report it to Lake County (note: if your property is in Unincorporated Newport Township, please also advise the Township of same after you report it to Lake County).
Please also click HERE to view an FAQ document from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency regarding the federal assistance process should a federal disaster declaration take place in the near future.
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| Need free cleanup supplies?
The Salvation Army is here to help you. Call toll free 800-564-9044 for more information about this great offer.
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Your hardworking volunteers-
For two days, I worked hand-in-hand with some truly caring and dedicated, hardworking volunteers filing sandbags, a backbreaking but necessary job. If you've never had the opportunity to perform this task, let's hope you never have to.
Thanks to Skyleigh Atkinson for compiling the list of Thursday's volunteers and Alanna Whitmore for Friday's. With the frenzy of the work and the commotion surrounding the effort, it's likely some names might have been missed and others misspelled. We apologize for that but have done the best we could to get this right. It is important to publicly thanks those people whose names we did get.
To see the list of volunteers, click HERE.
To read my narrative about how we filled the bags, click HERE. There was some quick thinking to create a makeshift "filling station" using a couple of things found in the township highway department garage. Hopefully, you'll find that an interesting read as it might not be as simple as one would think.
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Flood thoughts and comments-
I was impressed with the cross section of our volunteers. They came from Newport Township, Wadsworth, Beach Park, Zion, Antioch, Fox Lake, and even from Pleasant Prairie. They were old and young. I was heartened to see how many children came to work... something I thought was a harbinger of good things to come for our community.
Libby Otterness, a young woman and one of the hardest working people I've ever seen, perhaps summarized it best. She saw the village's emergency email requesting help, dropped what she was doing at work, put on her boots and came to pitch it.
She told me, "
I saw the Village of Wadsworth's request for assistance sandbagging on Russell Rd. and set out to help. As a relatively new resident of Wadsworth and Newport Township, it's important for me to not only get involved in our community, but also to give back to fellow residents needing assistance. As soon as I arrived in Russell, I was able to see how in need of protection from the rising waters some residents were.
"Despite the obvious tragedy of the rising Des Plaines River, it was a powerful sight to see so many people working together to help one another. Not only were Newport Township and Wadsworth represented in the mix, but I was also able to meet people from Gurnee, Zion, Winthrop Harbor, and Fox Lake who saw an opportunity to help those affected by the flooding.
"The group made quick work of the sandbagging and seemed to be able to make a big impact on the surrounding area. I am so grateful to live in a community that cares for one another -- new residents or old -- and am hopeful that we will continue to work together to help those affected by these recent events.
"Please let me know if there is anything else I can provide."
Libby, you not only worked very hard, you also provided inspiration and leadership to others. Thank you so much. You are a special addition to our community.
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| More flood comments-
- At Russell Road, the river crested at 12.15 feet above its normal level, an all-time high in recent memory.
- If clean-up operations from the flood weren't enough, township road crews still had work to do from damage caused by the previous Sunday's storm, including removing many downed trees and repairing some roads impacted by that storm.
- The very successful wetlands project south of Wadsworth Road stored an enormous amount of flood water, preventing even more damage to downstream Gurnee. Donald Hey, Executive Vice President of Wetlands Research, Inc., said the flood plains would rise anywhere from six to twelve inches, holding water but slowly releasing it downstream. Without this holding mechanism, flood waters would rush downstream unabated, creating even more havoc for not only Gurnee, but parts of Libertyville, as well.
- Our sandbagging crews dealt with 450,000 pounds of sand and 10,000 bags.
- Preliminary estimates are that approximately 50 homes were directly affected by the flood with about 20 having serious water damage problems. A few homes will probably be torn down as total losses.
- Stone Creek Grill from Winthrop Harbor provided a fantastic lunch for Friday's workers. Volunteers gobbled down some fantastic cheeseburgers, delicious grilled chicken sandwiches, and an assortment of junk food.
- The Lake County Emergency Management Agency has a lot of useful information. Click HERE to go to their web site.
- As a final comment, Supervisor Whitmore, whose own towing business donated trucking services to locate and deliver more needed sandbags, offers extra thanks to the kids who volunteered their time and effort. "I was impressed with their work ethic and interest to help our community. That has to be a good thing for our future."
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