Residents along Kankakee River worry about melting snow, flooding threat

WILMINGTON, Ill (Fox 32 News) - Flooding concerns continue along the Kankakee River just off Interstate-55 in Wilmington, especially in the Phelan Acres neighborhood.  

Officials have gone door to door there to let residents know flooding could be imminent.  Homeowners in Phelan Acres say they seem to deal with a little flooding every year, but what’s going on right now is a big concern for them.

This Super Bowl Sunday was warm enough for football fans to watch it outdoors. One family was sure happy about that. They set up a table, chairs, TV and snacks in their garage. But, they’re not happy the warmer weather has brought worries to Wilmington. Susan Harkins and her son, Kyle Vandenburgh, live on Willow across from the Kankakee River where there’s an air of caution.

When they started coming through and handing out fliers and saying that you need to get an escape route, I've never been in a situation like this before so he's heard from other people that when it's flooded, the water can be as high as six feet,” said Harkins.

"Hopefully nothing too crazy happens is what we're kind of looking for. So the next couple of days we're gonna kind of be on the watch,” said Vandenburgh.

Officials are watching the seven mile ice jam on the Kankakee, but so far it isn’t budging. The Dresden Power Station is continuing to pump warm water into the river to help. Should it flood in the next couple of days, officials say it wouldn’t be a slow rise, it would go fast and sand bags wouldn’t do much. So, those living along the river should get prepared now in case an evacuation becomes necessary.

"What we don't want to do is place our emergency responders in unnecessary risk. You know we're prepared to go in there and do what we have to do but if we can get them out of there before they're stranded, that would be a better scenario,” said Wilmington Deputy Fire Chief Todd Friddle.

Neighbors are paying attention to the warnings and getting ready should they need to get out quick.

“We have everything set here to leave immediately if we need to. So have you packed bags already? Mm hmm, yea,” said Stephanie Boers, Wilmington resident.

The chief says they'll be watching the river closely early this week because if they get any flooding, it would likely happen by Tuesday.