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August Storm Packs a Punch

On August 23, the City of Northlake was subjected to a violent thunderstorm with strong winds which created havoc within our community. The storm appeared to track down North Avenue, splitting in two, hitting the area between North Avenue and Armitage and hitting the areas south of North Avenue. Countless trees were toppled, power lines were knocked down and many streets were blocked with branches, wires and debris. A gas main on South Wolf Road caught fire with flames shooting out of the ground. In addition, the electrical power was knocked out in the majority of the City for periods ranging from several hours to several days.

The response of the Public Works Department, Fire Department, Police Department and residents was immediate. Streets and sidewalks were cleared so emergency vehicles could get through; all available personnel were called back to the police department and fire department to handle emergencies and patrol our darkened streets. Residents came out with chain saws, generators and other equipment to help their neighbors clean up, or share power from a generator. All in all, the response from the residents was overwhelming and positive.

In the aftermath of the storm, the City received many calls complaining of the slow response in removing fallen trees and branches that had piled up in resident’s parkways. The last of the branches from the storm were picked up on September 8, 2007 - 2 weeks and 2 days after the storm. The normal branch pick-up service that is done by City contractors’ takes a week. The amount of branches and trees that were accumulated from this storm was extraordinary. Northlake was one of the hardest hit areas in this storm. Branch pickup began in earnest the day after Labor Day. This was done for two reasons. The first and foremost being that the City wanted to give enough time to residents to clear their property of fallen trees and branches, especially taking advantage of the Labor Day weekend, and get everything out to the street so that the City’s contractors would be able to remove everything at once, rather than going back several times to pick up debris as it accumulated. The other reason was cost. Calling contractors out in the immediate aftermath of the storm, working on weekends and on Labor Day, would have cost taxpayers more than waiting to pick everything up at once during normal working hours. Contrary to popular belief, it appears that there will be no FEMA money coming to cover these costs, and the City will most likely bear the entire cost of the tree and branch removal. In view of this, a two week clean up of the huge amount of tree debris, I feel is not an unreasonable response. As I write this (September 20), several communities to the west still have storm debris on their parkways.

Another major source of confusion was whether or not residents had to boil their water. The Village of Melrose Park, which supplies Northlake with water, initially called for a boil order because the pressure in the system within the Village of Melrose Park fell below 20 pounds due to the power failures plaguing the area. However, the pressure within the transmission line from Chicago to Melrose Park to Northlake was not affected and the water pressure in Northlake remained at safe levels. Melrose Park’s initial call for the boil order was over inclusive and at no time was the Northlake water supply unsafe or in jeopardy. With everything else that was occurring during this time period, since the water supply in Northlake was safe, the decision was made not to try to counter the initial boil order since it would only add to the confusion. Whether or not that was the right decision can be debated, but since the water was safe, those that didn’t hear the initial boil order would not be affected, and those that boiled their water weren’t affected either. Correct information was given to those residents who called the City concerning this situation. This illustrates the need for an effective way to communicate with our residents. Even if the City were to attempt to counter the initial boil order, how would this be done? With flyers? Announcements over loudspeakers? Signs? All of these methods are hit and miss at best. About a month prior to the storm, the City Council authorized the Police Department to establish a “reverse 911” system which would enable the City to make automated calls to its residents with information. Once this system is in place, announcements about boil orders, branch pick up and other information will be able to reach our residents more effectively, leaving signs, flyers, announcements and other methods to serve as a back up in the event the automated call system was not able to function.

As far as the cost of the storm is concerned, while exact totals are still being tallied, we know that branch removal, tree removal and grinding will cost between $110,000 and $125,000. Overtime will be approximately $5,000 and damage to City property at another $10,000, for a total of approximately $125,000 to $150,000 which, as of this date, does not appear will be reimbursed by FEMA.

I would like to thank all of the residents who went above and beyond to help their neighbors through this difficult time. This incident provided valuable insight to the City on how to improve response during an emergency. We expect the “reverse 911” system will be up and running in 2008, which will help eliminate confusion in future events such as this.