Wind Knocks Out Power • Knocks Over Trees

Water wasn't much of an issue during the September 5, 2014 storm that raced through Northbrook in the late afternoon. Led by fierce, 80 mph winds that ripped through town in minutes, the fast-moving storm toppled large trees, knocked down power lines, and left a huge mess. Almost every block was littered with piles of tree branches, nature's way of pruning the dead wood. Along with a history of water issues, Oak Avenue also has a history of Com Ed power outages. So, as expected, many homes in the neighborhood were without power for almost 24 hours. In the aftermath, instead of the sounds of silence during the night, there were sounds of generators trying to keep refrigerators and freezers filled with food from spoiling. For the uninitiated, big generators sound like a truck idling in your driveway with the pedal to the medal. Small ones sound like a lawnmower engine revving under your window. For eight hours. 

BELOW: Neighbors get out their power saws to remove a downed tree in the 2300 block of Oak Avenue

This tree on Walters took a severe beating when the storm came through.

 In the 2400 block of Oak Avenue, the water didn't become an issue. By ordinary storm standards, this amount was easy peasy.

First Flood of Spring -- May 13, 2014

Six months since our last post -- a tough, snowy, cold, but rainfree winter -- and now it's time for the Oak Avenue Spring Floods!! It's either been 91 and humid or 48 and windy this spring. All in the same day sometimes. Mostly cold, however. It was so cold for so long the flowers and trees bloomed and foliated almost overnight. They knew it was May and time to get cracking. 

Last night's storm was a series of intermittent rain dumps, followed by brief respites of calm. So, yeah, the backyards flooded. And the pumps were out in force this morning. A new guy in the neighborhood got water in his basement, so he's p.o.'d. Turns out people aren't very forthcoming around here re: water getting into the house. "We had some once, but that was the only time." Liar liars. 

We checked the rainfall levels and found there was 3.19 inches for Glenview, the closest town listed. And it wasn't a slow and steady rain, but a short, nasty load of wetness that unloaded several times. 

And wait until you see the size of the house we watched going up last fall. The one that's sure to create even more water in our yards/window wells/basements. It's big. Really big. A footprint the size of Sasquatch. Watch. There will be some major water coming our way, whooshing down the hill from that place. 

We ought to make an Oak Avenue Floods logo out of this pump. It's been working overtime since early early this morning. It was past 3:00 PM when we shot this photo. 

When French drains go bad -- this six foot pond is over one foot deep and keeps getting larger and larger as the years go by. This is all that's left of a 20' x 20' patch of flooding -- thanks to the runoff from the giant houses above and behind our yards.