This Isn't Good
It's not a police story, or even specifically a Chicago story.
But it may affect homeowners and a lot of cops own homes:
For the first time in history, Deep Tunnel, Chicago’s massive system of underground tunnels and reservoirs designed to hold flood water, is almost completely full after a weekend of heavy rain.
Built over more than a half-century, Deep Tunnel sends floodwaters from Chicago and nearby suburbs through more than 100 miles of tunnels into three reservoirs located just outside of the city. It was designed to help protect area rivers as well as Lake Michigan.
The Thornton reservoir in south suburban South Holland was at 94% capacity Monday. The McCook reservoir in southwest suburban Bedford Park fluctuated between 96% and 100% full. Between the two, they are holding around 11 billion gallons of water.
The Thornton reservoir has never filled up much more than half its capacity and that was at almost 55% in June of 2019. The smaller McCook reservoir has filled up several times this year, most recently on June 26.
This mega-project has been going on for half-a-century. It has Rostenkowski's fingerprints all over it and has been a constant source of political and construction graft for most of it's existence.
But....it has provided some relief....actually, quite a bit of relief to homeowners in the area. We personally went through a couple bad basement floods back in our youth. It was an almost semi-annual tradition of emptying out the basement of waterlogged furniture, boxes of winter clothes, bins of destroyed Christmas decorations that didn't fit in the garage. Sometimes, the Ward boss would schedule a special pick-up day to pick up the alleys full of wreckage.
And then it slowed considerably. We moved to a neighborhood where it almost didn't happen at all. No one remembered the last time it happened it had been so long. But now, the reservoirs are full, the assorted municipalities can't empty them fast enough to make room for the next storm, and basement floods are suddenly on everyone's radar.
Get those boxes up high and invest in plastic bins we guess.
Labels: we got nothing
posted by SCC at 12:02 AM
63 Comments:
It would of been cheaper to pay for every household to have a flood control system installed in their home.
In SE Evanston, they installed a large drain to Deep Tunnel in a municipal parking lot. Walking past it the other day in between the heavy storms, I heard a rumble and watched as a geyser of water shot up, out of the drain. At least 9 feet into the air. Paused, repeated at least five times, slowly shrinking in height. One of the freakiest things I've ever seen. Called Evanston 311, the operator almost couldn't grasp it. Can't blame her, I was stunned.
Flooded every few years as a kid in Norwood Park. Always helping dad swamp the basement. My first house flooded bad in ‘91. Deep tunnel actually helped a lot as the years went on but installed flood control after that in every house until leaving Hellinois in ‘21.
Full reservoir you say? Spin up the graft-o-matic and start diggin boys! Time for another hole to fill up! woooooo hoooooooo!
50 great Christmas' on the way!
Who is this Rostenkowski's you speak of?
I moved to a high rise downtown two years ago. No longer need to worry about a basement.
Overhead sewers and check valves are helpful to prevent that basement flooding.
I remember the old timers putting a square piece of rug over the storm grates to keep the water out in the street. Don't see that now since they put the restrictors in but they clog up with debris and it takes the city forever to come vacuum them out.
Did that once or twice. Load up train cars and send the water to Arizona...
Is it true that in the next contract the age for free medical will be 57 years old and we will pay 5 percent? I heard this will be in exchange for giving it to the guys who have 29 years in but not 55 years old.
You should have put up horses and charged admission.
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
Now you only have to worry about The Great Unwashed Democrat Welfare Voters and their Demon Spawn.
Now, kees me you fool!!!
Their mistake was that they stopped digging. Just when you think you have enough , Mother Nature says hold my beer.
A POS who is dead.
Look him up and go piss on his grave.
Near your main drain in basement put a water pit mext to it and put ejector pump powered by home and then another one with battery back up and then run pipe out back to send the water.No other choice other than flood control pit in front yard that can fail.Your just sending sewer water underground to your neighbor.
He's the turd that fucked us on SS payments then got the boot for stealing stamps..lol
Sell the excess water to California for their fire issues.
I have overhead sewer, but when they close the valves for the sewer system, it backs off over the top of the sewer back up in the gangway, cracked the foundation. Water has a way of destruction when you have elected idiots in charge that do not foresee the future and give billions and billions of dollars away to illegals and criminals. This is what you get that money would be much better spent as we know our tax dollars spent municipal flood control systems.
first thing I installed when I moved in was an overhead sewer
been through the flooding numerous times in Portage Park. Get a Flood control system
Windfall and waterflow provision
No now you have to worry about the savages taking over downtown robbing everyone. How are those taxes you're paying.
When you think of a POS that’s the first name that comes to mind.
oh but MWRD is building stormwater storage units on.................the WEST side
I worked in the deep tunnel and boy is it deep.
All joking aside it does help reduce flooding and it’s massive and was pretty cool being 300 feet underground. I’m dead of winter it was 55°.
Flood controls are not guaranteed. Call a company and they’ll tell you that.
And if you get a chance stop in to any of the water rec stations for a quick tour or any of the fresh water supply facilities.
Shits super cool.
And if you are near Michigan and Erie there is a water rec office on Erie and if you ask they may show you the water rec control room showing all the levels in the system.
It’s kinda cool if you into the massive infrastructure stuff.
And they have a clean bathroom and are police friendly.
Same in Milwaukee. Almost yearly with our "hundred year storms"
https://milwaukeemainstay.com/milwaukee-sewage-overflow-lake-michigan/
https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/west-allis-flooding-victims-question-why-homes-were-built-over-honey-creek-mmsd-explains-deep-tunnel-system
Engineers and scientists at work, but if YOU fail emissions........
He is the one responsable for keeping your social security money that you paid into for 40 years. He's also a avid postal stamp collector.
Check valves are a good idea until there is so much water behind it that the valve begins to float freely and lets water in in spite of the System. I never had overhead pipes. But if sewers can gush 8 feet in the air, how much water can your household pipes hold anyways? After they installed the storm blockers in our streets, we had problems with foundational flooding. The gutters and roof tops ran off between the houses and found the weakest point of entry.
Congressman and former speaker of the house.History.Ended up going to prison.
That could be interesting, if you don't like your neighbor
...or if your neighbor doesn't like you!
Pipeline to california. Have the liberals pay for it through direct contributions. Or crack into the stock accounts of all the corrupt politicians and fund it that way.
F**K that, keep it at 55 and if you are maxed out before 55 then you get that health care. We need to not vote yes on the age 57.
since it was built i never had flooding in my basement
having no clout on the cpd is a way of destruction
It's only water.....So What, grab the soap and get busy
Around 1988 I saw one of those heavy solid sewer caps, just north of Irving park on California fly 20 feet into the air on a gusher of water. Fortunately it landed on the street without hitting anything.
I've thought about that. Rather have the street flooded than the basements.
Plenty of room in Peotone. When they were blasting the bedrock and cracking walls in houses they said the houses were old and tough luck.
not really , it created many good paying jobs.
makes sense, make it 30 years pension with free insurance , no minimum wage and no free insurance for anyone with less than 29 years at any age. 62 and 22 years , no free insurance for you.
pay your dues , put in the time.
Oh where on the West Side and what with the ellipses?
Everyone relax the mayor has everything under control. No flooding ever( hahaha )again. Sorry didn't mean to laugh.
You on bullshit
Not really, because the MWRD was trying to cut back on dumping raw sewage to the lake. So the TARP gives the MWRD time to treat all that water from storm and sanitary sewers that would otherwise be dumped in the lake.
Does that apartment building have a basement full of HVAC/mechanical? Guess what? If it floods, you're still a victim.
I'd rather deal with the water than the denizens down there!!!
That's what we have thank God!
He brought more federal funds and big projects to Chicago than Obama, Rahm Durban and all the other phonies combined. Chicago has been crying poor ever since. Saved the White Sox from leaving too. Police don’t like him, but then again, police don’t like each other.
On the NW Side , I cannot tell you the number of times cleaning out the basement of our small home!
Highrise floods occur from fire protection sprinklers breaking in units above you and flooding the units below. I know as I was flooded out for half a year as a result on this and having to have ceilings, walls, floors, cabinets, etc. replaced.
Nah. You're talking billions of gallons. Has to go somewhere. There is no " flood control system " for that on a residential level.
Virtually everyone in my trade worked on the tunnel system in their career. Despite being chicago its legit. Under budget and on time. It's a massive undertaking. It's over 100 miles of rivers and lakes 360 ft down plus the 3 quarries. Award winning in engineering circles. If you didn't have it that's 20 billion or so gallons that would be in basements. And most of the money stayed here. Concrete and steel, operators carpenters,laborers and drivers. The last phase which will take forever is every city in Cook County has to enlarge their storm sewers. Picture a five gallon bucket of water poured into another 5 gallon bucket thru a small funnel. That's why it backs up. I've read fb comments from obvious cps grads blaming Trump and data centers etc. It's a great system and way ahead of its time for the flatlands but it's mother nature bitches, she takes her vengeance out on mere mortals occasionally to let you know who's boss
I wonder is the drug cartels also use the deep tunnel???? Hmmmmm
Whenever the MWRD issues a water conservation alert, I do my part by taking a leak outside on my neighbor's fence.
Have a cap on my basement drain and a week later my hot water heater broke and flooded the basement. Stupid me.
Overhead sewers work…theoretically the water would have to be at your house level to flood….used to flood all the time…had overhead sewers and drain tile installed (not cheap)…used to always get seepage with just the threat of rain….16 yrs and not one drop of water…though, the sump pump runs continuously when it rains because the drain tile brings all the water into the house into the sump pump and pumps it up to the over head sewers so that you have no standing water around the foundation
Ho boy. Yes, SCC, definitely "Chicago Stories!"
Right around 9/11, we had some heavy rains. Living 016. Area west of Milw. Ave. across from St. Adalbert's was bad for this, 2 - 3 blocks going west, always the basements filled.
It took a front-end loader and a couple of semi-dumps from Vanecko Transport Leasing to clear out the soaked carpeting and ruined drywall and so forth from the alley on JUST ONE BLOCK.
Daley II had just put in the plastic "flood preventers" to hold water on the street. Outrage increasing in area! Then, when we started flying again about 3 days after 9/11, Pres. Bush scheduled a trip here to O'Hare to deliver a pep talk to airline/airport employees. Saw Marine 1 flying usual route.
Mayor made sure that Prez stopped at the Norwood Restaurant for another "pep talk" for the locals. Lots of flags and cheering, pictures with the Prez...and I never heard another peep about the flooding.
Now THAT was politics!
Still had to toss all your warped, moldy high school yearbooks, though...
I love dis city!
*
Stay safe, all.
"3 moves are as good as a fire" in terms of losing valued possessions.
A sewage-mess in yr. basement equals, surpasses, can exceed that.
See if TARP can hook up with Army Corps Of Engineers (they built the Panama Canal and also reversed the Chicago River around 1926) to get this flow diverted through the streets of downtown Tijuana.
Probably be an improvement.
"I've read fb comments from obvious cps grads blaming Trump and data centers etc.
7/08/2026 01:29:32 AM"
Look up traitor Neville Roy Singham who made his pile here under the capitalist system he affects to despise, and then moved to Shanghai. Huge international private-jet oligarch wedding like Alex Soros/Huma Abedin. Married to Jodie Evans of Codepink. He has funneled something like $60 billion through his chain of "NGOs" to fight data centers here while CCP builds them like crazy. Like our coal plants - we're dynamiting Crawford and State Line and feeling all green about it while China BUILDS a couple of coal plants per month.
TDS is real. Mentioned to someone "It's warm today" and back comes "Trump climate change." Talk about a knee-jerk reaction. Trump flooded yr basement, Trump made yr shoelace break.
In general, inverted viewpoints throughout society. Someone tells me they're harassed by endless scam phone calls. This from someone who talked real-time to scammers for THREE MONTHS until they got ransomwared solid, red screen with skulls and had to toss their computer.
I make a couple of how-to-stop-it suggestions, and they turn on me, accuse.
"These people have to make money too!"
The restrictors don't work. All BS for someone's cousin to get another contract.
They'll just pass a new pension law to go until 57 yoa. You ain't voting on shit.
Post a Comment
<< Home