Like many people in Park Ridge, Niles, Morton Grove, Skokie and other places, Niles Mayor George Alpogianis’s weekend got off to a soggy start during the storms Friday evening. Alpogianis said he found that a stray TJ Maxx bag had blocked a sewer drain near his restaurant, causing water to pool around the building and rising as close as six feet from the door to the business. from the

“The intersection [at Dempster and Harlem] was hellacious,” Alpogianis said. Photos show the intersection flooded like a lake.

The area was victimized, like much of the north suburbs, by a series of storms and extreme rain Friday night which punched in a roof in Belvidere causing fatal damage, overwhelmed local drainage systems, left streets full of water and caused wetness or flooding in the basements of homes.

“No sewers in the world [were] going to be able to handle that much rain that quick,” Alpogianis said. “It’s impossible.”

Here are more details about damage in specific suburbs, as well as information about future flooding control.

In Niles, more than 20 streets were closed due to standing water, according to an email from village spokesperson Mitch Johnson. He said the village fielded 56 calls for assistance with flooded streets and one flooded basement.

At the peak of the rainfall, Johnson wrote in an email to Pioneer Press, Niles saw more than two inches of rain in an hour.

“This extreme concentration of rainfall was the main contributor of the flooding, as sewer systems can only drain water away so quickly during those most intense moments of downpour,” he wrote.

Johnson added that some of the sewers also had debris like leaves or mulch — or, in the case of the Harlem and Dempster intersection, a plastic bag — blocking them.

“Stormwater basins and projects that the Village has completed in recent years did help reduce the impacts and will continue to be a focus for the Village,” he said.

Those basins and reservoirs are located at Maryhill Cemetery, Golf Mill Plaza and (in a field adjacent to) Our Lady of Ransom Church, Alpogianis said.

After the rain stopped, Public Works worked on clearing debris from the flood, Johnson said.

Homeowners who wish to think ahead to future major rainfall events may call the village Public Works Department to discuss financial assistance with improving drainage and flood control on their property.

“The two options are an overhead sewer or a backwater valve installed outside,” Johnson wrote. “The Village will pay for 50% of the project up to $4,000. The homeowner must first apply by completing the flood control assistance form.”

In Park Ridge, City Engineer Sarah Mitchell said that the city needed to close six streets and it fielded 50 calls for assistance.

The exact number of flooded homes was not yet clear, Mitchell said in an email to Pioneer Press earlier this week.

Public Works focused on street sweeping and clearing debris left behind after the storm along with other normal department work, Mitchell said.

Park Ridge has several policies and programs in place meant to reduce flooding risks, Mitchell said, including a yearly sewer lining program and initiatives to put in “green” pavement in city alleys and parking lots, which help promote absorption of water

“We are currently coordinating with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) on a regional flood control project on their plans and schedule for the installation of a storm sewer on Dempster Avenue which would allow for construction of a flood reduction project in the Mayfield Estates,” Mitchell added.

Skokie spokesperson Meredith Gioia said the village saw normal street flooding, otherwise known as “ponding,” following Friday’s storm.

Gioia said ponding keeps stormwater on the ground and out of sewers, where a heavy amount of water can back up into the basements of buildings.

“Public Works did dispatch one crew on Friday night to assist with reports of basement flooding, but those incidences were all caused by property issues and not public flooding problems,” Gioia wrote in a message to Pioneer Press.

Skokie has maintained a stormwater runoff control system since 1999, Gioia said.

“By altering street elevations and adding water detention areas, we are able to control the amount of water that flows into the sewers during a heavy rain event, preventing sewer backup,” she wrote.

The village also requires redevelopment projects to contain stormwater and asks all new residences and major additions to have engineering drainage plans, she said. Village ordinance also requires downspouts, or the vertical pipes installed on outside walls to drain water, to be disconnected from household sewer lines.

Gioia also said Skokie offers a Residential Yard Drainage Assistance Program, which helps residents design and bid out drainage system construction as well as inspecting them once complete.

In Morton Grove, the village needed to close five streets for about two hours each to drain water, according to Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski.

The village knew of four homes that had water in the basement following the storm and the village fielded one other call for easement flooding during the storm itself, he said.

“Thus far today (Monday) we received 13 additional calls seeking flood control information,” Czerwinski wrote in an email to Pioneer Press. “Most were resolved with discussion regarding maintenance of existing homeowner flood control systems.”

Much of the street flooding in some locations was due to blockages of landscape mulch in drains, he wrote.

Morton Grove received 15 calls related to the weather Friday night, he said, including 10 motorist assistance requests, three miscellaneous traffic issues and two public health-related problems.

The village fire department responded to 13 incidents, including a vehicle fire in Niles, four flooded basements, two stalled vehicles and five false fire alarms, he added.

Currently, Czerwinski wrote, “Public Works is responding to homeowner calls with concerns about the flooding, checking to see if they have a flood control system and informing them of their options to prevent flooding in the future.”

Residents who would like help maintaining or installing flood controls on their property can call the Public Works Department at 847-470-5235, and will get a visit from village staff, Czerwinski said.

Morton Grove did not experience any other significant damage as a result of the storm, Czerwinski said. But, he added, it did see almost 2.5 inches of rain in an hour, “which is quite significant.”