River City Residents Evacuate After Flooding Leaves Them Without Water, Electricity
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Torrential rains and flooding left the River City complex without power or water on Monday, forcing the evacuation off all 449 units, several residents told CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli.
Managment asked CBS 2 to leave the property in the 800 block of South Wells. and would not confirm what the residents said.
Chicago had about four inches of rain on Sunday. The more than eight inches of total rainfall this month is nearly a record, with about two weeks left. The past three Mays have been especially wet--ranking in the top three in the record books for the month.
In a matter of minutes, the entire River City parking garage was filled with 14 feet of water Sunday night. Soon thereafter, the power went out for the hundreds of residents inside the building. Ed Hofflander watched the water rise and decided to try and go get his Dodge Journey. A friend rowed him to the SUV in a boat.
As of Monday afternoon, dozens of cars remain inside.
Flood warnings and advisories remain in effect for most of the Chicago area on Monday, as rivers and streams were expected to continue rising through the morning, because the ground already was so saturated from earlier rainfall.
Flooding became such a major concern on Sunday, officials at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District reversed the flow of the Chicago River to send water into Lake Michigan to alleviate flooding.
River City was designed by Bertrand Goldberg, who also designed the similar-looking, if not more iconic, Marina City. It opened in the mid-1980s.