Flooding

[billyjean]

Operating rooms at MacNeal are on the second floor. Only medical things in the basement are physical therapy and the morgue.

well, i was told there are a few operating rooms and pathology.  Just say you are right ... whatever is down there, I just want to know if it is true that MacNeal gets drained first and the rest of us wait for our turn.  That's all I really want to know.  If that is a truth, and could be responsible as to why ppl who never or hardly get flooded, all of a sudden were flooded, I'd like to know.  Just want some understanding of how our sewer system works in a situation like this, and if someone does make a decision on how water is diverted and drained.  Or is there no such thing.  Anyone? 

[scungili]

Water on the streets was insane yesterday.  i was westbound on The Stevenson when the storm rolled through.  Even though the Central Ave. exit ramp is an incline, there was enough water on the ramp to cause vehicles to shoot waves of water to the sides.  It was better towards the top of the ramp, but that was in the center lane.  The outer lanes of the bridge had inches of standing water and Central & Pershing looked like a waterpark ride with truck wakes & splashing & leaves whizzing by.  A delivery truck headed east on Pershing made the turn onto southbound Central (a lil fast for conditions IMO) and threw a wave that reached the northbound Central lanes.  Ogden's right lane was a wading pool between Ridgeland & Austin and the side streets were not only filled with water but tree debris as well.  What a freakin' mess!

[buzz]

Operating rooms at MacNeal are on the second floor. Only medical things in the basement are physical therapy and the morgue.

well, i was told there are a few operating rooms and pathology.  Just say you are right ... whatever is down there, I just want to know if it is true that MacNeal gets drained first and the rest of us wait for our turn.  That's all I really want to know.  If that is a truth, and could be responsible as to why ppl who never or hardly get flooded, all of a sudden were flooded, I'd like to know.  Just want some understanding of how our sewer system works in a situation like this, and if someone does make a decision on how water is diverted and drained.  Or is there no such thing.  Anyone? 

There are no operating rooms on the lower level.  Pathology was (2 yrs. ago) performed at the lab bldg. (which is on the East side of Euclid next to the parking structure) with the exception of STAT procedures which are done adjacent to the operating theaters on the 2nd floor.
MacNeal has emergency procedures in place for disasters.  The City also has emergency plans.  For example, in the case of a snow emergency the area around MacNeal would be plowed 1st to guarantee access.
The sewers have no priority to my knowlege.  MacNeal has failsafe systems in place for electric, fault tolerance for IT and Telecomm, and auxillary pumps in case of flooding.  But sewers are sewers.  They just drain into the same system we use as residents.  I don't believe there's any "MacNeal gets drained 1st" policy.  They just have better drainage running to the main than the older residential buildings.

[buzz]

I also rec'd Alderman Paul's email.  Much appreciated.
As of 2 p.m. the Jewel in Stickney was out of bleach !

[billyjean]

Operating rooms at MacNeal are on the second floor. Only medical things in the basement are physical therapy and the morgue.

well, i was told there are a few operating rooms and pathology.  Just say you are right ... whatever is down there, I just want to know if it is true that MacNeal gets drained first and the rest of us wait for our turn.  That's all I really want to know.  If that is a truth, and could be responsible as to why ppl who never or hardly get flooded, all of a sudden were flooded, I'd like to know.  Just want some understanding of how our sewer system works in a situation like this, and if someone does make a decision on how water is diverted and drained.  Or is there no such thing.  Anyone? 

There are no operating rooms on the lower level.  Pathology was (2 yrs. ago) performed at the lab bldg. (which is on the East side of Euclid next to the parking structure) with the exception of STAT procedures which are done adjacent to the operating theaters on the 2nd floor.
MacNeal has emergency procedures in place for disasters.  The City also has emergency plans.  For example, in the case of a snow emergency the area around MacNeal would be plowed 1st to guarantee access.
The sewers have no priority to my knowlege.  MacNeal has failsafe systems in place for electric, fault tolerance for IT and Telecomm, and auxillary pumps in case of flooding.  But sewers are sewers.  They just drain into the same system we use as residents.  I don't believe there's any "MacNeal gets drained 1st" policy.  They just have better drainage running to the main than the older residential buildings.

Thanks for responding, buzz.

[Ted]

Ted,

Don't you have a battery backup system with the sump pump, or have the batteries already drained? 

Jake,

  I have two pumps (one ejector, the other sump) but they are both electrically operated. The electricity was out for 17 hours, which is also the longest I can remember as well.

  Once the electricity was put back on, everything was pumped out.  I only had a little bit on the floor that I mopped on.  But, it was scary seeing the water go through the lid on the wells and the drain, which is capped.

Obviously water will go through or around hard solid lids and caps if it wants to and there is enough pressure.

  Ted

[Robert Pauly]

Scary?  The water started coming up from our two floor drains - I mobilized my wife and eldest daughter to fight the flood - despite vacuuming and bailing water through the basement windows, within 10 minutes the entire floor was covered with about 5 inches of water.  There was nothing that could have been done - Mother Nature was too strong - we went upstairs and had dinner (out of respect to the storm, mine was liquid) - we cleaned and hosed and vacuumed the rest of the night.

In the aftermath, we have some minor drywall damage - to you, jake, the rug stinks to the high heavens - the smell is penetrating the entire house - we're running the (new) dehumidifier, and dragging the carpeting out today.

And from what I heard from friends and neighbors, we got off easy - such an event.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

We're awfully close to the hospital and if they do in fact "drain" MacNeal first it certainly had no effect for us.  We got water too.  Our basement is unfinished (thank God) and we're pretty much all cleaned up now.  It probably helped that I had a partial bottle of both detergent and bleach with the caps off that overturned in the water.  We still went and bought more bleach and did the floor again to be on the safe side.  In almost sixteen years I have never seen the kind of water we had in our back yard.  Again, I feel lucky.  One neighbor related how they know someone about a block away who just had their basement finished and it was gorgeous with even brand-new leather sofas and it's all ruined from the water.

[Bonster]

The sewers have no priority to my knowlege.  MacNeal has failsafe systems in place for electric, fault tolerance for IT and Telecomm, and auxillary pumps in case of flooding.  But sewers are sewers.  They just drain into the same system we use as residents.  I don't believe there's any "MacNeal gets drained 1st" policy.  They just have better drainage running to the main than the older residential buildings.

Not sure about the south side, but the main on Oak Park Ave. is large enough to walk through standing up, which is perhaps why those on OPA were bone dry.

[Bonster]

Ted,

Don't you have a battery backup system with the sump pump, or have the batteries already drained? 

Jake,

  I have two pumps (one ejector, the other sump) but they are both electrically operated. The electricity was out for 17 hours, which is also the longest I can remember as well.

  Once the electricity was put back on, everything was pumped out.  I only had a little bit on the floor that I mopped on.  But, it was scary seeing the water go through the lid on the wells and the drain, which is capped.

Obviously water will go through or around hard solid lids and caps if it wants to and there is enough pressure.

  Ted

So I guess the answer to Jake's question is "no."  Ted, you need battery backup! Oy...

From what Bob describes it might not have kept up anyway.

[buzz]

In almost sixteen years I have never seen the kind of water we had in our back yard. 

Thinking back, I remembered that our area has had this same type of damage before.  It was the year that tornado ripped through Plainfield.  Was that in 1993 ?

[dukesdad]

Anybody have any idea what it costs to have overhead sewers put in?

[chandasz]

No idea about cost but we have em and we were the only ones on the block to stay relatively dry.... just some seepage from the walls.

[Jo]

Anybody have any idea what it costs to have overhead sewers put in?

What are overhead sewers?

[OakParkSpartan]

http://www.villageofschillerpark.com/departments/communitydevelopment/building_safetydivision/backflowprevention.aspx

Costs I've seen are 4-6000.  Schiller Park has a program to defer the cost, with a grant of up to $1,000.

Too bad part of our 15% tax increase couldn't be used for a program like this which may benefit every taxpayer rather than just our city employees.  We know who the mayor is watching out for, and it isn't us.

[Bonster]

Anybody have any idea what it costs to have overhead sewers put in?

What are overhead sewers?

Rather than having the sewer lines connect from your basement floor directly to the street sewer, the connection to your house is at a higher point.  All your basement connections are piped to ejector (sump) pits, and pumped up to this sewer connection.  

Rather than this



You would have something like this (click to enlarge):
 

[Jo]

Thank you!

[Ted]

Rather than having the sewer lines connect from your basement floor directly to the street sewer, the connection to your house is at a higher point.  All your basement connections are piped to ejector (sump) pits, and pumped up to this sewer connection.  

 That's the way my house is configured.  The sewer is only a few feet below the ground... what I never understood, though, was why they configured the upstairs bathroom to go through the ejector pump rather than directly out to the overhead sewer.  The kitchen sink goes out directly but the bathroom goes through the ejector pump.

 The only bad thing about that configuration is when the electricity is out for 17 hours during a severe rain storm and the pumps do not have an alternate generator... LOL.

Ted

[Juliet]

Ted, my Grandfather is a former Sewer worker.  He told me my former house on the 3200 block of Highland had overhead sewers and "you'll never flood".  Well, like you, in the Bermuda Triangle of power outtages for no reason, we only got water the times the battery back up of the sump pump failed.  Granted I'm not living there now, I don't know what happened to that house during the storm, but I feel your pain on losing power all the time for no reason.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

Ted, my Grandfather is a former Sewer worker.  He told me my former house on the 3200 block of Highland had overhead sewers and "you'll never flood".  Well, like you, in the Bermuda Triangle of power outtages for no reason, we only got water the times the battery back up of the sump pump failed.  Granted I'm not living there now, I don't know what happened to that house during the storm, but I feel your pain on losing power all the time for no reason.

The last time we got water like this was either in 1996 or 1997- we moved into our home in November 1994.  I remember because one of my husband's best friends got married and we were at the reception when our neighbors had the babysitter call us.  The groom's parents lived in a house with overhead sewers in the neighborhood they grew up in - Harlem and Belmont.  For whatever reason his parent's basement did flood and the next day his father went down to the basement and while he was attempting to clean it up he had an asthma attack and died - he was an asthmatic.  Obviously, something I'll never forget.