Skokie officials declare emergency after water main break

SKOKIE, Ill. - The Village of Skokie Board of Trustees voted on Tuesday night to declare last week’s water main break an emergency. Now, officials are working to secure state or federal funding for residents who suffered property damage as a result of subsequent flooding.

Around 5:15 a.m. Friday, a break in one of Skokie’s major water transmission mains caused extensive flooding on several blocks and prompted a widespread, days-long boil order. According to officials, the 36-inch transmission main is a crucial water supply line serving Skokie residents from Evanston’s water supply.

The break, which occurred near Emerson Street and East Prairie Road, left the entire Village of Skokie without running water Friday and it took until Sunday before the boil order could be lifted.

Some Evanston residents were also placed under a precautionary boil order Friday.

SkyFox video captured the extent of Friday’s flooding, which continued for hours until crews were able to shut the water off and begin digging into the street.

Repairs have been made but residents in the immediate area are now grappling with flood-damaged homes and submerged vehicles, including a single mother of three, Kathleen Schmidt.

"I want to learn what they're going to do to help us out because insurance is only going to cover so much. This is only going to cover the Blue Book price of the vehicles. My dad’s retired and he lost both his vehicles, which have been with us a long time, so now he has to replace his vehicle, but he’s semi-retired," Schmidt said. "It’s going to be hard on him and I haven’t paid off my car yet and so financially it’s going to be hard to replace them. We are waiting for insurance to go through; we are waiting for them to even check out our cars. It took two days for them to tow ‘em."

Public works officials say it appears a fitting cap installed in 1963 failed. They are investigating exactly what caused the failure—explaining that fitting cap components typically last between 80 and 100 years.

Meantime, officials say they are preparing a Preliminary Damage Assessment Report to submit to Cook County Emergency Management and Regional Security, in hopes to be able to offer financial support to the impacted residents.

Skokie residents who experienced damage are encouraged to submit a property damage report online, as officials say this will help the village qualify for disaster relief.

To submit a property damage report, residents should send an email to riskmgmt@skokie.org with the following information:

• Your Name
• Your Address
• Your Phone Number
• Description of damages related to the water main break or water outage
• An estimate of the damages you have experienced (if you are able to provide one)
• Any other information which you believe to be relevant
• Any related photos

Officials say the email is not an application for reimbursement, rather it will help the village qualify for funding.