# ChiDopers, Check In: Built an Ark, Yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553 "2008-09-14T14:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/21 "2008-09-15T10:40:25Z")
Northwest suburbs here. Dry as a bone. I had a stream running down my driveway and off to the lower property where we have a stream. We never take on water because we’re a good 20 feet above our little stream. My MIL’s vents filled with water. My husband’s cousin has 3 or 4 leaks in her roof, and my SIL’s basement flooded. She said it looked like someone was running a hose in her basement!! My dad’s ok and my sister’s on the 3rd floor. We’re all good. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/22 "2008-09-15T13:22:26Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Another inch in the rain gauge now. Getting to the store was interesting, as I took the Mini Cooper. Not the best plan, but my car was already in use. Lots of puddles out there–small lakes, really. Wow…you are really lucky to have made it back… **Lillith Fair** once drove through an unexpected puddle in her Mini and had to get a new engine! And then when she mentioned it on a Mini-Cooper message board, she got totally reamed for Not Having Read The Owner’s Manual where apparently they warn you not to drive through water …despite what they show on their ads. She had read the manual…she just couldn’t avoid the deep puddle. We here in Cleveland got only wind, very little rain…I guess it all got dumped on you guys before hitting us. Glad you are all okay. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/23 "2008-09-15T13:29:28Z")
Western burbs - tons of water outside, not a drop inside. Which is nice, because in the past we have had sump pumps fail on 2 occasions with unpleasant results. Most impressive in our burb was the local high school - Glenbard West - the adjoining lake overflowed and covered the football field. Some pics are on the Trib’s website. There is a storm drain behind our lot and one house over. Sat a.m. we had a lake in our yard. The drain was blocked solid. I waded up to my knees, found the drain, and clawed out some detritus. The sucking sound and ensuing whirlpool was quite impressive. Turned my backyard lake into a swiftly flowing stream. Was astounding to see it still raining throughout most of Sunday. This a.m. the sun broke out, and really sort of surprised me - it had been so long. On the train ride in the quarry in Villa Park - part of the deep tunnel reservoir system, was pretty full. takes a huge rain for that to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/24 "2008-09-15T13:46:24Z")
Far SW burbs - nothing in the basement, but some serious low water in the back yard. One of the retention ponds by me overflowed into the street, but isn’t blocking anything. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/25 "2008-09-15T13:52:16Z")
I’ll never laugh at “primitive” people again. I went out last night to man the pump one last time and the moon broke through the clouds. I swear it was like a benediction. The sun is trying to shine right now and the birds are chirping… all is right with the world again, and thank goodness. I drove the Mini around the puddles–easy to do because there was almost no traffic on the roads yesterday. But thanks for the warning–I won’t take it again. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/26 "2008-09-15T13:57:21Z")
I’m in Elgin. Tyler Creek is up over the cement retaining wall in my yard, but just. There are just a couple puddles in the basement, which the fans and dehumidifiers are handling OK. Unfortunately, a couple banker’s boxes we were using for storage got wet, and of course sponged the water right up, so I have to do sorting and salvaging today. I have a friend in the Edgebrook neighborhood whose basement got eight inches of water. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/27 "2008-09-15T19:15:57Z")
I drove past the HS this morning and most of the flooding seems to have dissipated. It is sprinkling outside. Gah. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/28 "2008-09-15T22:19:04Z")
I live in an apartment on the far NW side of Chicago near the Des Plaines River. Late Saturday afternoon I went to our underground garage to get my car for grocery shopping. I passed by one basement laundry room. There was a sign saying it was closed because of flooding, but there wasn’t any water in the corridor itself when I got there. On my route to and from the grocery, I saw no flooding on streets. I really didn’t realize how bad things were until I watched the 10 PM news. Today I went for my usual walk in a nearby Forest Preserve. I knew the low-lying parts of the trails were sure to be flooded, as I’ve seen in 2 previous floods. But it looked like about half the trails were completely flooded out, much worse than I had seen before. And I saw the river’s water level. One small gully leading to the river was completely full. What’s normally a 5-6 foot drop to the river from the bank was now less than 1 foot. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553/29 "2008-09-15T23:48:38Z")
My basement is dry (thank goodness…we’ve had two previous floodings). I live in Naperville and I saw pictures of the Riverwalk on the news and was amazed at how high the water was. I was in Indiana on Saturday night (hi Lake Station!) and was stuck in the crap on 80/94 while driving home Sunday around 11:30 AM. Luckily, I was able to quickly get off on Burr, take Ridge Road around the closure and get back on at Calumet. I had to drive through some pretty high standing water in front of the Med Center, but once I got back on 80/94, it was smooth sailing home. It looks like Calument ending up getting closed later on because the water got higher and higher. Hopefully now that the rain has stopped the water levels will all go down! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chidopers-check-in-built-an-ark-yet/463553.md?page=1)