La Grange public safety personnel and employees from the village's department of public works responded to 60 calls for assistance this past weekend as six inches of rain fell in a deluge that flooded several village streets and caused sewage to back up into residential basements, Village Manager Robert Pilipiszyn said Monday night at a regular meeting of the village board of trustees.
Public works crews were dispatched at 1 a.m. Saturday to barricade flooded streets and intersections, clean debris from storm drains, and help residents attend to flooded basements, Pilipiszyn said.
An additional 20 calls were received Monday from homeowners seeking help in the aftermath of the thunderstorms that tore through the area, he said.
An analysis of the calls received so far indicate that storm damage appeared to concentrate on several distinct areas in the village, Pilipiszyn said.
Those areas he identified as hardest hit by the storm were:
- The 700 block of Spring Ave, and the 600 and 700 blocks of Waiola and Stone Aves;
- The northwest quadrant of the village;
- Between the north campus of Lyons Township High School and its practice fields, and;
- The neighborhood east of La Grange Rd and south of 47th St.
The weekend's events took center stage at Monday night's meeting, even though there was no mention of it on the formal agenda, which had been published and distributed Friday morning before the storms rolled through.
Some two dozen residents were in attendance, several of whom created a storm of their own as they criticized village officials for inadequately preparing for a wrath of nature that savaged several communities in West Cook County, prompting Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to officially labor them a disaster area.
Click here to view video of residents remarks to village officials, and the responses they received.Pilipiszyn said the 80 assistance calls received so far likely were "an under-reporting" of the total storm damage. He encouraged all affected homeowners to contact village officials.
"We are currently in the process of completing an initial assessment of the damage, a first step in qualifying for state and federal assistance for affected residents," Pilipiszyn said.
Ryan Gillingham, the village's director of public works, attempted to address residents' concerns about a perceived lack of preparation by presenting a brief overview of the village and regional sewer systems, as well as infrastructure improvement programs that already are underway.
Click here to read a transcript of Gillingham's remarks.
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