By John Kendall and Greta Lieske
IV Leader Staff
Flooding that backed up traffic due to closed area roads
and bridges in the Illinois Valley created numerous problems for students and
staff of Illinois Valley Community College while traveling to work and classes
last week.
After experiencing no problems getting to and from school on
Monday, Sept. 15 after the weekend of rain, many students were caught unprepared
for bridge closures Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Even though Hurricane Ike was only a tropical depression when
it hit the Illinois Valley during the weekend of Sept. 13, it combined with
another front to bring roughly four straight days of constant rain that put
pressure on the three main rivers running through the Illinois Valley: the
Illinois River, Fox River and Vermilion River.
The closures that occurred Sept. 16 left Interstate 39 as the
only access point across the Illinois River towards IVCC. Bridges at Route 178
in Utica, Route 351 in La Salle, Route 251 from Peru and Route 89 from Spring
Valley all were closed due to flooding.
The Route 251 bridge re-opened two days later, but not
without much frustration for students and staff in the preceding days. Some
students e-mailed instructors that they would not make it to school; others
called into the vice president of student services office to say they would be
delayed. However, students were not alone; the delays also affected faculty and
staff.
For Katie Dubach, of Ottawa, the flooding meant sandbagging.
Dubach, a graduate of Ottawa Township High School, went to her alma mater after
her classes at IVCC had ended Sept. 15 and spent time filling sandbags to form a
levee.
“At one point, we ran out of bags,” she said. “We had formed
one wall of sand bags and then had to make another wall inside of that levee
because water was breaking through.”
Ike was a category two hurricane with peak winds of 110 mph
when it made landfall near Galveston, Texas during the early morning of Sept.
13. When it finally moved out of the Illinois Valley, four to ten inches of rain
fell.
According to the National Weather Service’s Web site, the
Illinois River in La Salle reached a historical crest of 33.65 feet on Tuesday,
Sept. 16, nearly 14 feet higher than the record crest on Dec. 5, 1982, which was
32.05 feet. The Illinois River was scheduled to reach flood stage by the
beginning of October.
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
declared seven counties, including La Salle as disaster areas, mobilizing state
emergency funds to the victims of the floods. As of press time, no federal
declaration of disaster was issued.
According to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Web site, most roadways
that were shut down due to flooding have been re-opened after inspection.