Politics

Cook County Announces $8M Relief Fund To Help Clear Mountains of Debris Left From Summer Storms

After powerful storms tore through the Chicago region in August, the leaders of numerous south suburban communities were faced with recovery efforts that far exceeded the capacity of their personnel, equipment and financial resources.

Nearly two months later, flood waters may have receded and power may have been restored, but mountains of debris remain and the cost of cleanup — in the absence of federal emergency relief funds — threatens the finances of communities like Glenwood, Sauk Village, Dolton, Flossmoor, Lynwood, Matteson, Olympia Fields, Homewood and Ford Heights.

On Tuesday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced an $8 million investment to help hard-hit municipalities clear remaining debris and help residents get back on their feet and return to some semblance of normalcy.

“We can barely make payroll,” Sauk Village Mayor Marva Campbell-Pruitt said at a Tuesday news conference.

“Our smaller and under-resourced communities often lack the capacity to respond to disasters of this scale, and they deserve a partner they can count on,” said Preckwinkle, who was critical of the federal government’s lack of assistance.

Preckwinkle is seeking reelection in November.

“When the federal government seems to be deciding whether or not you have an emergency based on whether you’re a red state or blue state, Cook County steps up to fill the gap,” Preckwinkle said.

The county had already issued a disaster declaration and mobilized emergency services in the immediate aftermath of the Aug. 11 storms. But the sheer volume of debris has proven overwhelming.

“The debris is more than just an eyesore,” said Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, whose district covers the southland. “It blocks the roads, it creates hazards and it slows recovery.”

Miller is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District.

Already, communities have removed 100,000 cubic yards of debris, enough to fill 5,700 dump trucks, Preckwinkle said. And yet there are still hundreds of thousands of cubic yards left to cart away.

“This number tells us two things,” said Alex Joves, executive director of Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security. “First, our municipal partners have already accomplished an enormous task, and second, there’s a tremendous amount of work that lies ahead.”

Sterling Burke, village president of Olympia Fields, said one of three homes in his community had suffered some sort of tree-related damage, whether a tree had fallen, been uprooted or shed branches.

“Once you start picking up some of this stuff, what do you do with it?” Burke asked.

In Olympia Fields, the debris pile covered a football field and stretched 15 feet high. In Homewood, which was hit by two EF-1 tornadoes, Village President Rich Hofeld said the debris reached three stories high on a village lot.

The cost of recovery to date has topped $1 million in some communities, including the village of Glenwood, a burden that threatens municipal finances and the ability to provide basic services to residents, according to Mayor Toleda Hart.

“A natural disaster should not become a second financial disaster,” Hart said.

As the communities continue to chip away at debris, they will be able to continue cleanup efforts without having to sacrifice municipal services, Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson said.

Emergency Management and Regional Security has requested assistance from the volunteer-run Illinois Public Works Mutual Aid Network, which has secured 40 trucks to support debris removal operations.

Officials estimated it will take approximately two weeks to collect debris from current sites and transport it to regional locations in Chicago Heights, Flossmoor and Matteson, where it will be consolidated for removal and processing.

Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]

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