Residents fly into action to fight Fox

Vicky Metzger describes how quickly water from the Fox River swept into her yard Thursday while she sandbags her home on Grove Avenue north of St. Charles. (H. Rick Bamman photo)

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ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – Even before Thursday afternoon’s storm swept through the area, Rob Metzger was fighting the swollen Fox River.

Metzger guided a toy wagon full of sandbags through the water that started to surround his house because of this week’s heavy rains. The river already had topped a wall near the home that Metzger and his wife, Vicky, share.

To add insult to injury, additional storms dumped even more rain while they were sandbagging.

“You want to hope it will help,” Vicky Metzger said of the sandbags. “The river went up over the sea wall. You don’t even know where the wall is.”

A sense of helplessness started to sink in.

“Mother Nature overtakes you,” she said. “This is nothing you have control over. You have no control when you are this close to the river.”

Click here to see more pictures of flooding in Kane County.

With more storms in the forecast, however, the couple planned to leave their home by today.

Their neighbors, Mike and Mary Salmon, vowed to stick it out. They were placing sandbags around their house with the help of friends and strangers.

“We’re not going down without a fight,” Mary Salmon said.

According to a manual gauge in Dundee, the Fox River is currently 715.9 feet above sea level, just above flood stage at 713 feet.

There have been no reports of homes flooding in the Tri-Cities or South Elgin, Kane County Emergency Management Director Don Bryant said.

“People along the river need to take preventative measures to protect their living quarters,” Bryant said. “They need to move valuable possessions to the second floor of their house, and put valuable papers where they will stay dry.”

His agency will deliver empty sandbags to those who need them.

“We will provide materials and expertise,” Bryant said.

The State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield is working with local officials to monitor the level of the Fox River.

Flooding has also forced the closure of Island Park in Geneva until further notice. Geneva Park District officials on Wednesday afternoon closed the park, located along the Fox River.

“There are a lot of low areas that are holding water because the river is up and over the retaining wall. It is impossible to determine where the wall is,” Park District Superintendent of Parks and Properties Larry Gabriel said.

Portions of the Fox River Trail in the park also are under water, he said.

Park district officials next week are expected to decide whether the Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival slated for Sept. 2 and 3 at Island Park can be held.

“We are evaluating the park on a day-to-day basis,” Gabriel said.

Click here to read about the powerful thuderstorms that shook the area.