Along the Rock River: 'Here we go again'

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By Barb Ickes | Saturday, June 14, 2008 2:05 AM CDT | () comments

This time, there was some warning.

When ice jams brought record flooding to the Rock River in March, residents had no time to plan an escape. The water came up in the night, bringing rescuers in boats to riverfront homes to warn the occupants.

Joe Senatra was one of dozens of residents on the river’s North Shore who was taken by surprise. It was the first time his home took on water in the 60 years he has lived at 1044 North Shore Drive.

On Friday, he saw another round coming. He was one in a swarm of riverfront residents who spent the day hauling their belongings to higher ground.

“I’ve got a container being delivered,” Senatra said. “There’s so damned much to do.”

He said he had friends on the way to help him pull out the new carpet that was laid in his home about a month ago. He was taking no chances.

One friend arrived but stayed only long enough to grab two baby raccoons out of a cage that Senatra was using to care for the motherless animals. Joe Filbert picked up the babies by the nape of the neck, saying, “Come on, boys. A flood is no place for you.”

Just a few doors away, Senatra’s daughter, Amy Tomlinson, also was preparing for the worst.

“I took off from work early,” she said. “We’ve got to get everything out of the basement. I hate to think of cleaning up all that mud.

“Here we go again.”

Post-concert

traffic a mess

It took concert-goers longer than usual to get out of the i wireless Center parking lot Thursday night, but stories of cars floating away as their owners attended the show are greatly exaggerated, arena executive director Scott Mullen said Friday.

“I saw a story on TV about cars being flooded, and people not being able to get out, and that’s just ridiculous,” he said. “Everybody got out of the parking lot OK.

“River Drive looked like a river, but only one person I know of — a minivan — tried to turn onto River Drive and had to be towed out.”

Remnants of the flash flooding were still evident Friday morning as workers used pressure washers to hose mud off the sidewalks and driveways surrounding the i wireless Center. Some sections of nearby Railroad Avenue still had as much of an inch of mud on them Friday morning.

Mullen said a storm drain on or near River Drive exceeded capacity at some point late Thursday, which caused the road to flood quickly.

As workers continued to clean the muddied arena grounds, they did so amid dozens of people arriving to pick up their packets for today’s Race for the Cure.

“We’re in pretty good shape now,” Mullen said. “The people who were here really enjoyed the (Kanye West) concert. It was an all-star show.”

Water, water everywhere

Davenport Public Works employee Elmer Shannon was helping man the pumps at the downtown levee Friday when he was dispatched to another part of town. This time, he wore his waders into knee-high floodwater at Farnam and 32nd streets.

“I’m just trying to make sure the storm drains are clean,” he said. “It may not look like it, but it’s draining. It’s taking the water away as fast as it can.”

Shannon said Public Works crews have been assigned to 10-hour shifts during the flooding, but Thursday’s 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. shift was especially challenging.

“We took a beating and then went home and let the next shift take the rest of the beating,” he said. “It was crazy all over town.”

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.