Storm Socks Region

By Amy Mack

amack@@dailyherald.com

An intense storm drenched northern Kane and southern McHenry counties Tuesday morning, sparking house fires, flooding basements and roadways and triggering worries about water levels across the region.

The deluge prompted Fox Waterway Agency officials to close the Fox River south of the McHenry Dam and to declare a no-wake zone north of the dam.

And the ripple effect of water draining from flooded roads, fields and creeks triggered an automatic opening of a dam in one of Lake in the Hills’ lakes, prompting still more flooding downstream.

Barring additional rainfall, however, emergency and public works staffers across the region said they expect all to return to normal today.

“We just need some time in between storms now to get the creeks down,” said Jim Schwartz, Huntley public works director.

The Rockford area got 6 inches of rain, with northern Kane and McHenry counties getting from 2 to 4.5 inches of rain between midnight and early Tuesday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Halbach said.

More storms were possible Tuesday night and today, but forecasters dropped the imminent flood warnings mid-afternoon.

Flooded garages, basements and crawl spaces were plentiful across the region, particularly in Lake in the Hills near Lake Scott.

A surge in water levels prompted an automatic opening of the dam separating Goose Lake and Willow Lake to ease rising water levels, said Fred Mullard, director of public works.

However, that dam opening, residents say, led to their troubles. Downstream from the dam, Lake Scott spilled over – flooding Menominee Street and Jessie Road – forcing their closure for several hours.

Residents were left to watch as the water turned yards into rivers and homes into islands.

“When they opened the dam upstream, the street turned into a raging river and flooded in about two minutes,” said Chuck Kazmer, a Menominee Drive resident who was clearing 4 inches of water out of his garage Tuesday afternoon.

“The water was 3 inches up the wall in my crawl space. There was 3 feet of water, up to my deck in the backyard. It has never done that before.”

Both beaches at Lake in the Hills’ Woods Creek Lake – Indian Trail Beach and Butch Haegle Beach – were closed.

Mullard said phone outages, including village hall and public works, aggravated the situation at the height of the flooding and credited police staff with helping dispatch public works crews to problem areas.

“The phone system problems made it a little difficult and extremely frustrating for many of our residents who had a problem and concern,” Mullard said. “We weren’t ignoring them, but the entire phone system had gone belly up.”

He said that lake levels remained high Tuesday evening, but the situation is under control and appears to be returning to normal.

Crews from the Cary Fire Protection District had a busy night, responding to a lightning strike at 1600 Mink Trail at 3:56 a.m. The lightning caused only minor damage.

Fire crews also responded to a number of homes that flooded in the Crest Drive and Sunset Drive area.

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District crews responded to multiple alarms triggered by the storm in addition to flooded homes and streets. Parts of Towne Park in Algonquin were under water.

The East Dundee water sewer treatment plant also faced some flooding Tuesday, but most northern Kane County towns reported they were dealing with only standing water and minor flooding.

– Daily Herald staff writer Larissa Chinwah contributed to this report.

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