Surge deployment to Illinois after flooding

There were dumpsters in the driveways of many homes.

I was deployed to Illinois by FEMA to be part of a team that began assessing damage to homes and businesses on Aug. 18 and continued on Aug. 22. FEMA was there at the request of Gov. Bruce Rauner after record-breaking flooding in July in areas of Lake, McHenry, Kane and Cook counties.

We had a team in each of the four counties and my team spent two days in McHenry and three days in Lake. Initial damage assessments conducted by county officials documented nearly 300 homes that suffered major damage or were destroyed and more than 3,000 others that also were affected by flood waters, according to the governor's office.

The hot water heater and furnace were most often damaged. 

In addition to one or two FEMA analysts, each team also had one or two analysts from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, one specialist from the U.S. Small Business Administration, and also county officials and sometimes local officials. The assessments will help determine whether the state can meet the federal threshold of $18.3 million for assistance. 

We met the first few mornings at the Illinois State Police Chicago District Headquarters in Des Plaines, which was used for the 1985 filming of the exterior, interior hallways, and a rebuild of the library as the gym shown in the "Breakfast Club" movie. Wow!