Community Corner
UPDATE: Lakewood Residents Swamped by Flooding
Heavy rains have left some Lakewood homes surrounded by water.
A handwritten sign in a yard at the corner of Warwick Lane and Broadway Avenue in Lakewood reads:
"Hey, Lakewood, don't we pay enough in taxes to get a decent storm drain?"
The sign stands in what looks like a pond, but actually is the front yard of Mark and Christine Petraitis. Their ranch home is surrounded by the standing water, which also has accumulated on their side and back yards.
"This is the worse we've seen it, and it's actually gone down since yesterday," Christine Petraitis said. "We have 2 feet of water in our crawl space."
The family has lived at the Lakewood home since 2005, and, after every heavy rainfall, their lot floods, they said. They believe the problem is the lack of storm drains in the area.
"The village tells us there is some type of drainage system that all the water drains to, but I can't see where that is happening," Mark Petraitis said. "If you look around there's no access point (to a drain)."
The couple said repeated calls to the village have born no solutions. They said they've been told the village can't afford to install a storm drainage lines, and other excuses.
Several crossroad intersections along Broadway are flooded following the heavy storms that dumped nearly 4.5 inches of rain on the Crystal Lake and Lakewood communities. Additional rain fell Thursday afternoon, adding to the problem.
Another resident living on Sunset Drive said the flooding, which has encompassed much of her side yard and most of her neighbor's entire yard, said the flooding problem occurs when the village doesn't pump out the standing water near Riverside Drive.
"The village fixed Turnberry lakes, and they keep putting money over there," the homeowner said. "But they don't want to do anything here because there are only 200 houses over here."
Village Feedback
Paul Ruscko, public works director for the village of Lakewood, said his crews have been pumping water near Riverside Drive since the storms hit on Wednesday.
He said the storm drainage system that was built many years ago, and is similar to drain tiles used on farms.
“The Gates area are the original part of Lakewood, and many of the lots were subdivided many years ago," Ruscko said.
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"Certain pipes were abandoned. There are no storm inlets along Broadway, but the water is expected to drain into that storm sewer that has joints and openings. It’s made of clay so the water can drain into it.”
That storm line just can’t handle heavy periods of rain in a short amount of time, like Wednesday’s storm, he said. Public works crews also routinely make repairs along the line, where tree roots invade and create blockages.
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“We’ve got money set aside this year to make repairs,” Ruscko said. “The problem along Broadway is that we have more water going into that storm sewer pipe than it can handle.”
Ruscko said pumping the line near Riverside Drive and emptying the water into the creek helps alleviate the backup.
That creek flows south toward an outlet at St. Andrews Land and Nash Road in Crystal Lake, where city crews have been pumping sewage lines as well to prevent backup.
"We're making progress," Ruscko said.
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