A Community-Led Approach To Stopping Flooding Expands
By Maia McDonald and Katrina Pham, photography and additional reporting by Efrain Soriano for Borderless Magazine.
“The day before Independence Day, the summer sun beat down on dozens of clothes and shoes strewn across the backyard and fence of the Cicero, Illinois, home where Delia and Ramon Vasquez have lived for over 20 years.
A nearly nine-inch deluge of rain that fell on Chicago and its suburbs the night before had flooded their basement where the items were stored in plastic bins. Among the casualties of the flood were…”
Delia and Ramon Vasquez's stiff jeans and soaking wet T-shirts hang over the wire fence surrounding their home in Cicero, Ill., July 3, 2023. Apart from all the clothes, the couple said they also lost their washer, dryer and water heater to storm flooding the day prior.
Delia and Ramon Vasquez discover that a storage cabinet in their basement remains flooded over 24 hours after a storm that caused significant flooding in Cicero, Ill., July 3, 2023. The couple was still evaluating the extent of the damage and were wary of checking for water and mold in their crawlspace and under the carpet because of the potential dangers to their health.
Ramon Vasquez discovers that a storage cabinet in their basement remains flooded over 24 hours after a storm that caused significant flooding in Cicero, Ill., July 3, 2023.
Juan Jose Avila and his two sons outside their home in Cicero, Ill., July 3 2023. Avila says his family has been trying to stay outside away from the standing water in their basement.
The alley behind Juan Jose Avila's home is full of garbage bags of clothes and torn-up couches damaged by flooding in Cicero, Ill., July 3, 2023. Avila says this photo represents a fraction of the estimated $10,000 in damages in the family’s house caused by the flooding.
Nearly 300 Cicero residents gather outside the front doors of Morton College to listen to an at-capacity public meeting on flooding with representatives from the town of Cicero and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in Cicero, Ill., July 18, 2023. After two hours, the crowd began to disperse as it became evident that they would not receive clarity on the assistance that the local and federal governments would provide.
Fourteen Dolton residents raise their hands to vote on various flood mitigation projects proposed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology as part of the first RainReady steering committee meeting in Dolton, Ill., Aug. 3, 2023. The committee ultimately voted to prioritize projects that would directly aid residential areas with personal rain gardens and grants for homeowners dealing with flooding damage.
The stormwater storage basin alongside Natalie Creek in Midlothian, Ill., Aug. 5, 2023. During heavy storms, this 1.8-million-gallon detention basin fills up like a pond to mitigate flooding along the creek.
The permeable brick parking lot behind the Veterans of Foreign Wars building allows stormwater to seep through to mitigate flooding in Midlothian, Ill., Aug. 5, 2023.