Residents are now busy throwing away everything that was damaged by the flood waters.
One man says he barely had time to save anything before the waters overtook his apartment.
"Flooding just came in slowly, we thought we could keep it under control," said Tony Pasteris. "Then all of a sudden it rushed in like a tidal wave, it was up waist high before I could know it, before I could realize what was going on. I could only save a few things before I could get out of here."
This is the second time the neighborhood has had significant flooding in the past five years.
Many residents had to throw away furniture, appliances and clothes.
"A lot sewer, you know, mud, everything came in," said Kimberly Green. "It was all the way up to my ceiling, seven feet."
The U.S. Geological Survey says the level of the Chicago River on Thursday was nine inches higher than it was during the last big flood in 2008.
