80 Backed-Up Basements, 50 Flooded Streets or Alleys in Evanston

A storm that dumped more than four inches of rain on Evanston Thursday caused 80 backed-up basements and flooded at least 50 streets and alleys, city officials said in a press conference Thursday morning.

Between midnight and 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the city received a total of 4.16 inches of rain, according to utilities director Dave Stoneback. That's on top of another 1.23 inches of rain on Wednesday. 

Stoneback said a significant number of the backed-up basements were caused by the sewer system trying to convey more water than its capacity allows. In other cases, flooding was caused by cracks in basement walls, he said.

The backed-up basements were spread throughout the city, he explained, without an apparent pattern in their occurence. 

"We want to try to investigate all the basement backup concerns first, and a lot of street and alley flooding will dissipate on its own," he said.

The biggest street flooding issue occured on Central Street, where water levels grew so high in the sewer that the manhole covers popped off and water was flowing out of the sewers onto the street. The water had receded by mid-morning, however, and all manhole covers were back in place, according to Stoneback. 

Along with neighboring communities in Cook County, the city of Evanston discharges its sanitary waste into the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD). Because April has been such a wet month, the sewers were already fairly full.

When water began filling the deep tunnel used by MWRD last night, the agency shut its valves, sending the water discharge to the North Shore Canal, according to Stoneback. The North Shore Canal raised quickly, causing the sluice gates at Wilmette Harbor to open at 1:20 a.m. Thursday.

"It's been discharging into the lake since then," Stoneback said. "I don't know that I've ever witnessed it that high, but I'm not always out during these very heavy rain events."

Besides flooded basements and streets, there were several power outages in Evanston. Nearly 400 customers lost power in southwest Evanston at 4 a.m. due to a lightning strike, according to Stoneback. Their power was restored by 7 a.m.

Meanwhile, another 98 customers lost power at 5 a.m. in the area of Washington Street and Sherman Avenue, also due to a lightning strike to a transformer. ComEd crews are hoping to restore power their by noon, according to Stoneback.

"The continued rain impacts ComEd's ability to resolve that issue," Stoneback explained.

Another 11 customers near Crawford and Golf lost power at 9:19 a.m. ComEd's outage map does not yet show a predicted restoration time for that outage, however.

The city will do a special trash collection for those residents with flood-damaged items from their basements, according to Public Works Director Suzette Robinson. Crews from the Streets and Sanitation Division will do that collection according to the residential garbage collection schedule beginning Monday, April 22 and ending Thursday, April 25. The city will not pick up construction debris or other items prohibited from collection.

"The refuse is a priority, so we’re going to get everything up off the streets and the alleys as soon as possible," Robinson said.

That means recycling collection may be delayed by up to two days, she added. 

Fortunately for Evanston residents, the worst of the rainfall is over, according to James Maiworm, superintendent of streets and sanitation. Maiworm said the city could receive another quarter to half an inch of rain up until 9 p.m. Thursday, but the next significant chance of rain would not be until Monday or Tuesday of next week. 

Residents with flooding issues are encouraged to contact the 311 call center. As of 11:30 a.m. the call center had taken 420 calls, more than double its average daily volume, according to citizen engagement manager Erika Storlie.

"We are encouraging people to use this service throughout the day," she said.