Englewood pastor struggles to bail out church's flooded basement

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An Englewood pastor is struggling to stop the flow of water into New Calvary Light Pentecostal Church's basement, which has been flooded since Friday.

Inside the basement, there is a chorus of three overworked sump pumps.

"This pump has been running for the last four days consecutively," said Pastor Arthur Reed.

They're struggling to even break even in the basement.

"They're helping, but they still haven't gotten back to down to a safe level," he said.

Reed found the gurgling water pouring in Friday.

"I called the Water Department to find out what's going on, they came out yesterday," he said.

Reed had to set up a hose to run from the rented commercial grade sump pump in the basement, up the stairs and out the front door and dumping it into his church's front yard.

"It's pumping water out at 200 to 300 gallons an hour," Reed said. "It's a mess. And the boiler is out so I have no heat."

The empty sanctuary is 48 degrees. Four days into water overwhelming his elaborate homemade drainage system, the Water Department showed p.

"They determined no broken lines, the water is coming from a closed school, Yale Elementary, and left," he said.

Yale Elementary closed years ago and the Water Department said they fixed the problem Monday. Tuesday they returned again, still unsure of a solution.