UPDATE Oct. 15, 2017 / According to analytics, this page saved in PN’s archive from 2013 is receiving hits today, Oct. 15, 2017, as readers seek info regarding yesterday’s downpour that resulted in local flooding. For updates and road closures regarding this most recent rain event, visit Views of DuPage River from Riverwalk Covered Bridge as Fawell Dam prepares to go into operation, Oct. 14, 2017.
Thanks for reading PN!
Also note that if you visit the Century Walk Dick Tracy sculpture today, you’ll find the world’s most famous crime stopper now located on much higher ground by the Naperville Township Building.
Editors’s Note: From 7:30-9AM, April 4, 2013, we hit the high roads and discovered many cars trying to navigate flooded streets, stalling half-way through the impassable water. So far, we’ve heard from a number of readers with reports of basement and backyard flooding from East Highlands to West Wind, reminders of the deluge in 1996. Already many yellow barriers are placed along the Riverwalk. The Century Walk 9-ft. Dick Tracy Sculpture is up to its knees in water. The Riverwalk Amphitheater and the September 11 Memorial are flooded.
North Central College classes this day and evening as well as the Earth Flag Presentation at 1PM have been canceled. School District 204 is closed. School District 203 was optional, but many families reported they could not access the roadways from their driveways.
Update 10:09AM: District 203 schools will begin early dismissal process with high school students at noon. Junior High Schools will dismiss at 1PM, followed by Elementary schools at 2:30PM. Buses will drop students as close to their stop as possible.
Drive carefully.
Take precautions everywhere.
With more than six inches of rain reported in the Naperville area since Wednesday, and another inch predicted before this rain event ends, the City continues to monitor flooding throughout Naperville. Throughout the day, if people encounter standing water on streets at any location, they should not drive through the area. For their safety, members of the public should stay away from retention ponds and the DuPage River.
A map showing flooded roadways and those with standing water is now available to view on the City’s website at www.naperville.il.us. A Flood Operations webpage has been established with a flood map.
A coordinated response by City officials to the flooding situation is underway with the safety and security of the public as the highest priority. Sixteen Department of Public Works trucks are on the roadways evaluating the status of streets and ponds. Barricades will be placed at roadways where flooding is anticipated to occur later in the day. Public safety personnel are currently responding to multiple reports of stalled vehicles and encourage everyone to stay off the roadways if possible.
Sandbags Available
The City has made sand and sand bags available to residents in need. Residents can now go to Riverview Court, off of Hillside Road, to fill and take sand bags. If additional sandbag sites are warranted, these will be communicated as they become available.
Residents with flooded basements are reminded to be cautious about electrical equipment and cords that may be located in those areas to reduce the risk of electrocution.
Sand and sand bags are available at Riverview Court, Centennial Beach and the 95th Street Library. Residents should bring shovels to fill their own bags. At this time, volunteers are not needed to assist with filling bags.
City Updates
For those residents who have experienced flooding in their homes, Allied Waste will collect all carpeting placed at the curb through the end of next week, provided the carpeting is bundled in segments no more than four feet in length, two feet wide and weighing no more than 60 pounds. Collection of the carpet will occur on a resident’s regularly scheduled garbage day. As a reminder, the City has unlimited garbage collection. Residents are asked to continue to use containers up to 32 gallons in capacity and 60 pounds in weight or one of the City-issued garbage carts. Furniture and appliances are included in the normal collection.
Collection of construction materials such as drywall and lumber will continue to be limited to two 32-gallon containers. Any electronics may be disposed of at the City’s Recycling Drop-Off Center, located at 180 Fort Hill Drive, from 8AM to 4PM on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
An additional inch of rain is expected before the current weather system subsides. The latest weather information can be found at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/.
The City will provide another flooding status update at 3PM. Up-to-date information will also be provided on the City’s government access television channel WCNC (Ch. 6 – WOW, Ch. 10 – Comcast, Ch. 99 – AT&T) and the City’s website www.naperville.il.us.
More PN Photos
Check out the Riverwalk Visionaries Century Walk sculpture, depicting images of Jim Moser and Mayor Chester Rybicki in the late 1970s prior to the dedication of the beginning of the winding brick path in 1981. In the background, high water is rising under the Moser Covered Bridge and the Moser Tower with the Millennium Carillon is in the distance. Note the DuPage River is way up over the low-flow walkway along the banks.
Also, no matter what the weather, the colorful base of the Riverwalk Dandelion Fountain at the entrance to the Moser Covered Bridge at Webster Street is a bright spot leading to the Naperville Municipal Center, right, and the Naperville Township Building, left.
