W E D N E S D A Y
July 5, 2023 Vol. 44, No. 1
$2.00 @wednesdayjournalinc
@wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL @oakpark
Thatcher Woods wildfires
of Oak Park and River Forest
Page 10
Unhoused encampment takes root near Metra station
SWAMPED
Flash flooding inundates Oak Park basements and shuts down expressway
Roughly two months old, ranging from 5 to a dozen residents By STACEY SHERIDAN Senior Reporter
TODD A. BANNOR
An Illinois Department of Transportation truck with a plow attachment attempts to remove water flooding I-290 at the CTA Blue Line underpass in Forest Park on Sunday July 2, 2023 By STACEY SHERIDAN Senior Reporter
More than six inches of rain fell in Oak Park during Sunday’s flash flood, according to a report from the Na-
tional Weather Service. The rainfall came after a weekslong-drought but the fast and furious precipitation led to an excess of standing water, which flowed uninvited into many basements.
The heavy rain overwhelmed the region’s sewer system, causing sewage and storm water to back up into basements.
A group of unhoused individuals have set up camp on North Boulevard under the ramp of the Oak Park Metra station. The encampment formed roughly two months ago and has a fluctuating populace with sometimes as few as five people and other times as many as a dozen or so, depending on the time of day. One of the camp’s residents, who goes by the name of Q, has been camping out here for a couple weeks. Q found himself in Oak Park after he was essentially evicted from his basement apartment in Humboldt Park when his landlord sold the building, he told Wednesday Journal. “I guess it was decided that the new owners would like to have the basement for their apartment,” said Q. With the rest of the building fully leased, Q said the building’s new owners did not offer to help him find new accommodations, so with nowhere else to go, he found
See FLOODING on page 9
WeConnect
See UNHOUSED on page 12
essential news. essential voices.