Some Port Barrington residents should journey by boat amid Fox River flooding after extreme Chicago-area climate

PORT BARRINGTON, Ill. (WLS) — The highway close to the village of Port Barrington’s neighborhood boat launch was impassable due to flooding Tuesday.

Residents’ solely manner out and in was by boat.

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“Right now, it’s dry in there. You can walk in there. Take your shoes off, no big deal,” Keith Becker stated.

Becker moved into his residence in 2017, the final time the Fox River flooded his neighborhood in Port Barrington.

“Just more about maintaining, you know, trying not to make a flood claim,” Becker stated.

There was no less than a foot of water flooded over the highway in entrance of his residence Tuesday. His home was fully surrounded by water. At least a thousand sandbags, a French drain system and a pump are protecting the Fox River from working straight via his lounge.

“Some of my friends think I’m nuts. I tried to explain it to my neighbor that just moved next-door, and he doesn’t think I’m nuts anymore,” Becker stated.

Becker and others who select to dwell on the Fox River know what can occur.

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“We knew coming into that there’s a risk. And you just, you know, prepare and just kind of deal with it,” Craig Laurishke stated.

Living on the river is a lifestyle most individuals who dwell there would not commerce.

“You know, 99.9% of the time, this is a beautiful place to live,” Port Barrington President Keith Vogeler stated.

The long-timers, like Vogeler, have their course of down. Outside Village Hall, they took a supply of 156 tons of sand to arrange late final week and over the weekend.

“The flooding affects about 15 homes, but the amount of people that come out and help us is just incredible. We just can’t thank them enough,” Vogeler stated.

For now, the work is finished. Vogeler and the individuals who dwell on the river are hopeful the water will not get any increased. But, after it recedes, there’s extra work to be performed.

“This water will be this high for at least a week before we start seeing significant droppage in the water. And then we got to get rid of all these bags,” Vogeler stated.

That’s no simple feat. Vogeler says the baggage are thought-about hazardous waste after a flood. So folks cannot simply dump the sand. They need to haul the roughly 12,000 sandbags away.

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