Mayor Brandon Johnson surveys flood damage on West Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson went from home to home Monday on the West Side, speaking to flood victims and surveying damage from Sunday's record-setting storms.
"You don't think about it every single day, but the memories that exist within our basements – where families gather, pictures are stored, where children play," Johnson said. "Basements in Chicago are as Chicago as everything else."
City leaders said they received more than 2,000 calls about water in basements through the 3-1-1 non-emergency service line, many of them in the Austin neighborhood.
Johnson lives in Austin, but said his home did not have any significant damage. He pledged to help victims of flooding recover, and said he will call for disaster relief funding from the state and federal government.
The mayor also said climate change will lead to more severe weather problems in the future, and pledged to re-establish a fully funded Environment Department, which former Mayor Rahm Emanuel disbanded.
"I've worked hard to make sure that the Department of the Environment will be fully funded and staffed, so that we have policies in place that can better prepare our city for these types of challenges," Johnson said.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot also promised to reinstate the city's Environment Department, only to stop short by appointing a chief sustainability officer and creating an Office of Climate and Environmental Equity within the mayor's office.