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As many Forest Park residents are again dealing with the frustration of cleaning a flooded basement, village hall is working on getting word out that extra garbage pickups are scheduled to collect items damaged by Friday night’s heavy rains.
In both a text message and a phone call that went out to residents’ phone numbers Sunday afternoon, residents are being asked to promptly put storm-damaged goods in their alleys.
“It’s bad, but we’re nowhere near what it was from the storm five weeks ago,” Mayor Anthony Calderone said referring to the current pile-up of damaged items compared with what followed heavy rain and wind storms on June 18.
To help residents with cleanup after intense rains that followed on June 23, the village had placed extra Dumpsters at five locations around town. According to Calderone, who said just before 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon that he’d just finished a check of the villages’ alleys, there won’t be additional Dumpsters now – just additional collection runs by the village’s garbage service.
In every neighborhood throughout the village, most residents woke up Saturday morning to water in their homes after overnight rains so heavy that the Eisenhower Expressway was temporarily shut and the Blue Line tracks in Forest Park, and neighboring communities, were flooded and closed.
As of 6:45 p.m. Saturday, all Blue Line tracks were running on their regular schedule, according to CTA spokeswoman Kim Myles.
In another recorded phone alert that the village put through on Saturday afternoon, residents were advised to make sure any contractor knocking on doors selling cleanup services has identification and can prove licensing and insurance. The village message asks residents concerned about anyone making such a pitch without credentials to dial 911.
Amy Malina contributed to this report.
