The Flood That Changed Elmhurst Forever…

Hey, Elmhurst! Did you know that the worst flood in our city's history actually led to one of the biggest engineering projects in the entire country? But first, I'm Amara.

I'm the one you normally see in front of camera.

And I'm Jeff, I'm the one who's always behind the camera, and this is the Hey Elmhurst! Podcast.

Where we keep up on all things Elmhurst,

So you don't have to.

So you don't have to.

And today we're coming we're recording from beautiful downtown Elmhurst at Maple & Willow, our favorite breakfast spot in town.

Yeah, we're switching it up this week, which is fun. So it does make recording a little different. So, bear with us if the episode is a little different.

But when you record in new spaces, it's just a little bit of time to get used to it. So with that disclaimer, I wanted to talk about the flood of 1987.

Used to.

So, I actually wasn't alive yet, to be fully honest.

That is that is true.

So, do you remember this flood?

So, I do not.

Okay. Then never mind. Scratch all my Scratch all further questions.

Like, I vaguely feel like I do, but I can't I can't confirm nor deny if I do.

Excellent. What a great What a great response. No, that is totally fine.

So, I will fill you in and fill all of our dear listeners in who also might not be familiar.

So, picture this. It's August 13th and 14th, 1987. A record-breaking 9 and 1/2 in of rain fell in Elmhurst in roughly 1 day.

Like during that 24-hour time period, which for context, to put that in perspective,

That's more rain in one storm than we normally get in two or three months combined.

That's a little bit.

Just a couple feet, or inches, or almost a foot. And it came down so fast that the ground was already saturated and the sewers couldn't keep up with the amount of water that was coming out.

Salt Creek rose from an average height of about 2 and 1/2 ft to almost 13 ft, which is basically five times its normal level.

Yeah.

It's an abundance of water of wet. So as you can imagine, streets across town, they turned into rivers. And whole neighborhoods, especially on the south and southwest sides, went underwater.

There's a great video on YouTube that I watched because I did a shorter video of this. It's like news coverage of what happened. You get to see the underpass on

83, right by North Avenue, it's completely submerged. You get to see all these roads are completely gone. Firefighters were literally using boats to recue rescue stranded residents.

The National Guard was called in, sandbags. Basically, DuPage and Cook Counties were declared disaster areas.

When the water finally receded, the region's damage totaled around $150 million. Put that in 1987 dollars, that's a decent chunk of change.

Yeah, that's a few bucks.

Just a couple. And hundreds of Elmhurst homes and businesses were hit. Like I said, clean up dragged on for weeks, blah.

The worst part actually wasn't the creek. It was that sewage was backing up into people's homes, in their basements.

I know.! We just learned something really interesting about early Elmhurst sewage, where it Oh! This is seren like a full circle.

It actually went into Salt Creek, so I guess this was Salt Creek's revenge.

Oh, there you go. Yeah, almost 100 years later.

Oh! Oh, yeah. Ooh, spooky!

Spooky history!

See, we have a lot more history on the way because you've been learning quite a bit about Elmhurst.

I've been knee-deep in all the history. It's been great.

And all the sewage.

Yeah, in all Elmhurst sewage history. So, also a question that I had while I was learning about all this and reading more was why did Elmhurst flood? And this actually ties in to the Elmhurst history that I've been learning.

Elmhurst has always had trouble with flooding. It is very well documented. Our early sidewalks, which I'm going to have a whole video on this, but our early sidewalks were made of wood as they were throughout basically all of the country.

And they were like one-foot wide, so good freaking luck passing each other. Our sidewalks were one-foot wide, they were made of wood.

So, they would actually float away when the city would flood.

I mean, it sounds like Cast Away. You're trying to escape on your little wood raft.

A little raft. Oh, no. Wilson!

So, Elmhurst has sort of a documented issue with flooding. Also, too,

The western edge of Elmhurst is right up along Salt Creek, so that is also why the west and southwest parts of Elmhurst specifically Well, and northwest. The entire western seaboard, if you will.

The western creek board.

Yeah, it's along Salt Creek and Salt Creek has a limit. There's only so much water it can handle, so that's why it overflowed, and it spilled everywhere, and then made its way throughout the suburbs. This was such a wake up call that a lot of legislation went down, all the things.

And that is what led to the Elmhurst Quarry now being our stormwater system. DuPage County

And there was a big empty hole. So, it feels like it makes sense.

That's literally So, okay, I'm going to skip ahead a little bit in my notes. It can literally hold, what was it, 2.5 million gallons? So, I think that's a pretty good

It's a little bit of water.

Yeah, and that hole has been dug since, I think it was 1887. Like, it's a pretty sizeable hole, so it makes sense that they would choose it. DuPage County drafted a stormwater plan in 1989, built on the idea of somewhere to store the water, which this is actually really fascinating.

They bought the quarry in 1992 and then converted it into the stormwater facility. So, now, this is how it works, just to wrap up this little section. When Salt Creek rises, floodwater spills into a diversion channel and down a shaft.

It falls about 80 ft,

Shoots through a 400-ft tunnel beneath Route 83, and then empties into the quarry. And then it's held there until the creek drops back to a safe level, and then it's pumped back out. And it's a whole mechanism, a whole system.

I have notes on it, but I'm not going to get into it just for time.

Hey, for the engineers out there, we'll have an engineering episode.

Yes. No, we won't, but Did you? So also what's so fascinating about this project is it's one of the largest non-federal flood control reservoirs in the entire country.

And as proof that it works,

In 2008, a storm almost as big as the 1987 one hit our town. The quarry filled up, and officials estimated the difference in damage between the two floods at around $500 million saved. And the Elmhurst History Museum estimates that 4,000 homes have been saved from flooding because of it.

Yeah, like that's wild.

So, I guess what became one of the worst disasters in our history actually ended up becoming one of the best engineering projects for the future of our town. So, yes, it stinks that happened in the '80s. My grandma's here.

I actually should have asked her like how that went for her cuz

Oh, yeah. Yeah, she'd remember.

Yeah. Oh, 100%. She'd just be like, "Oh, I remember.

I was wearing this color, and doing this, and whatever." Great memory on that lady. But, yeah, so it became one of the best engineering projects for the long term. Minor short term issues.

Yeah.

Not even minor, major short term issues. But now, yeah, it's just a very interesting piece of our history and piece of our engineering history, as well.

Yeah, definitely is. So, next up, we have our community spotlight segment. This is where you, as our dear listener, can go to call.show/heyelmhurst or click the link in the description, and you can leave us a message to be highlighted on the show.

So, today, we have a message from Rachel.

Hi, Hey Elmhurst! This is Rachel with Eastern DuPage Moms Demand Action inviting you to A Walk Toward Healing. For the past four years, local Moms Demand Action volunteers have brought our community together for this family-friendly fundraiser benefiting Chicago Survivors,

An incredible organization supporting families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Last year, more than 300 people joined us and raised over $40,000, helping Chicago Survivors expand their Storytellers Camp from 50 to 75 kids,

Giving even more children access to specialized grief and trauma support. This year, we'll be back on Sunday, September 13th, at 2:00 p.m. At The Hub at Berens Park for an easy one-mile walk, plus free snow cones and cotton candy, face painting, yard games, and lots of family fun.

Registration is free, and 100% of the funds raised support grief therapy and services for kids. Search us at awalktowardhealing.com for more details.

Well, that is such a cool thing. I was already sold, and then you said cotton candy, and snow cones, and face painting, and No, I just I love a worthy community organization and event, and just, I don't know, coming together as a community is always so amazing. So, especially for something so

Yeah, important.

Important as that. Yeah. I'm glad I'm glad we had the same word.

I was like, I have the word in there. It's It's It's processing.

So, yeah, thank you so much, Rachel, for leaving that message, and

Yeah, so make note, it's Sunday, September 13th.

Yes.

So, it's coming up a little over a month, a little less than a month.

Oh, yeah, a little less than a month. So, you have a couple weeks to prepare, get ready for a community walk. So, normally, we have two different sections for news and events.

However, this week they kind of go hand in hand because they're both news and events. So, the first thing that I want to talk about is something that I think would be very special to you,

Which is there is an exhibit at the Elmhurst History Museum called Bear Down: Football in the Windy City.

Just saying, I'm kind of a fan. I always say I have my two favorite seasons are right now: summer and football, so when they overlap.

This really is like your prime time. These couple months, so that's why you're just like, "I'm doing all the things!"

And I'm very excited to take you to this exhibit cuz I feel like it's it's going to be good for you.

Good for me.

Good for you. So, this exhibit, it'll take you through more than 140 years of Chicago football history. You'll see uniforms, artifacts, photos, footage, just a lot of really great football history.

I'm going to learn quite a lot, and I'm very excited. The exhibit opens August 28th, and the even better part is that general admission is free.

So, if you have 100 children, 100 family members, whatever you want, you can go on through, and you don't have to worry about admission, which is great.

Or $100, and you get to keep it.

Yeah, or donate it to the museum. Whatever your little heart desires.

All the hundreds.

Next is going to be Street Eats & Beats. We did not go last year because we were out of town. I'm excited that we're finally going to get to go this year.

It's on August 30th from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. And it's at SpringHill Suites on What is that, Lake Street?

Yeah, it's on Lake Street. You can expect a whole afternoon of food trucks, live music, special performances. There's also a kids' activity zone, which sounds fun.

I wish I could participate. The only thing that the Lake York Business Association, who's hosting this event, is asking for are dried beans or non-perishable food materials to then donate to the Elmhurst Yorkfield Food Pantry.

Okay.

So, you get to enjoy good food and support a cause at the same time. I don't know. I guess I love a cause.

I do like that you said, "dried beans," and I thought you were going to end there. I'm like, "Well, that's very specific."

Yeah, they only want dried pinto beans for some reason.

Dried beans.

They're just like, "I really like horses."

Yeah, but really all dry goods.

Yes, dry goods, non-perishable goods. Again, on the 30th from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. At SpringHill Suites.

And, finally, this is going into next week, but because of how our episodes come out, it's just it makes sense to tell you right now instead of later.

After it happens.

Yes. A mobile DMV is coming to the Elmhurst Public Library on Monday, August 31st, from 10:00 a.m. To 2:00 p.m.

You know me, I love a good DMV.

You sure do. That's why I was like, I need to tell you about this. This over the Elmhurst History Museum exhibit.

Yeah, over the Bears.

I was like he loves a DMV, he'll love a registration.

We know we all love DMVs, right? That's it.

Yeah. So, yeah, actually, if you don't love the DMV, like I think most normal people.

Oh, yeah. Also, no one knows like this is sarcasm just so everyone knows.

Yes, we like to be silly. If you work at a DMV, we love you. I digress.

So, August 31st from 10:00 a.m. To 2:00 p.m., representatives will be there from the Illinois Secretary of State's office, and they can issue and renew driver's licenses and state IDs, including REAL IDs, which is huge if you

Yeah, those are important.

Yeah, if you haven't gotten your REAL ID yet, you can finally do it without having to go to the DMV, wherever they are.

And like we travel a lot. The whole thing with the REAL ID is you need it for travel for air travel now, either REAL ID or passport. So, it's worth noting if you haven't traveled in a little bit and you plan on it, that's something you need to know going in, cuz you would show up, and they you won't be able to actually get through security with an old ID.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, because this has been talked about for a couple of years, I feel like it's sort of died down, the talking about it. So, yeah, that's a really good point.

Yeah, but if someone hasn't traveled, they wouldn't even know, potentially.

Yeah. And then they can also handle your vehicle registrations and license plate stickers. Important note, though, you do need in an appointment.

I was so excited to say do. You do need an appointment, so you'll just have to reserve that ahead of time. You can go to the Elmhurst Library's, I almost said park district,

The Elmhurst Library's website on their events calendar. Since it's through another since they're partnering with an office, you have to book it through the office. It's a little complicated.

I'm not going to talk about their booking system. However, it's it just it's

It is what it is, but if you want to take advantage of it, you just head over there and it'll explain everything you need to do.

Yes.

Yeah, which I think you should, honestly, cuz then you don't have to go.

That's the way you stumble. I didn't even I didn't even mean to do it.

You're just getting ready for your rap contest.

Okay.

Okay, next up is our rap contest.

Oh, no.

No, so that is everything for this week. So, make sure you're subscribed to the Hey Elmhurst newsletter for all the details we talked about today and things coming up in the future.

And that's at heyelmhurst.com.

Yes. And if there's something happening around town that you think we should cover, send us a message at call.show/heyelmhurst, and thank you again to Rachel. Be sure to mark that on your calendars, September 13th, for this amazing event.

And we will see you next week.

Bye!

Bye!