Majority of Cook County homes, businesses uninsured for increased flood risk. What you need to know

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's a troubling phenomenon nearly every time Cook County experiences a heavy downpour: Communities, sometimes whole neighborhoods, left underwater.

This kind of flooding can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in damages, and health risks to low-income neighborhoods, not equipped to remediate and repair what's left of their homes or basements.

An ABC7 I-Team data analysis found those risks will continue to grow over the next three decades.

More than 200,000 Cook County properties are at major or severe risk of flooding in the next 30 years, according to data released by the First Street Foundation. Of those properties at risk, 94% are uninsured, ABC7 found.

A lot of those properties at risk are nowhere near a river, lake or designated flood zone, which isn't a surprise to researchers like Syracuse University Professor Sarah Pralle.

"We're getting lots of intense rain in short periods of time. And that just means that a lot of the drainage systems in cities, especially with old sort of infrastructure, can't handle that amount of runoff in that quick of a time," Pralle told ABC7.

Pralle explained the kind of flooding Chicago has experienced recently is classified as pluvial or surface flooding, caused by overwhelmed and aging sewage or drainage systems, not equipped to handle the high volume of rain falling in a short period of time.

"That water has nowhere to go, it can't get absorbed by the ground," Pralle said. "So what homeowners are finding is their basements are backing up."

That's what happened to Pastor Cy Fields out of Austin this past summer, when severe storms in Cook County resulted in eight inches of water dropped in a short period of time, according to state officials.

Fields said he was with his East Garfield Park congregation on the morning of July 2 when his wife called frantically.

"My wife gave out a scream, saying 'The basement is flooding!'" Fields recalled. "It was uncontrollable and it was sewer water, it was dirty water."

More than a week after that storm, Governor Pritzker issued a major disaster declaration which was approved by President Biden in August. That declaration unlocked federal FEMA assistance for homeowners impacted by the storm.

Property owners have until Oct. 16 to file claims for assistance with FEMA for damages caused by the July storm (To learn more about that process, click here.)

But many property owners tell ABC7 the money they received from FEMA did not cover their damages completely.

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Researchers say that's not a surprise, and emphasize the need for property owners to research flooding insurance options.

"If there is a federally declared disaster... you might get some chance as a homeowner of getting a little bit of help from the federal government," Pralle said. "However, it's very small and those who are insured are able to get quite a bit back and get back on their feet much more quickly than the people who don't carry flood insurance."

Case in point, Fields told ABC7 he was approved for assistance from FEMA, and he had a flooding insurance policy on his home. Fields said he had purchased the insurance policy after past flooding events on his street in Austin.

This time around, though, he said the money he received from his insurance provider outweighed what FEMA provided him.

Fields said he worries for those who may not be able to afford annual insurance policies, on top of other living expenses.

"We have seniors in this community who live on fixed incomes. We have people who live in garden apartments and buildings that are not their own. And, and so there's an uncontrollable variable here that makes getting insurance difficult," Fields said.

Professor Pralle agrees, and believes flooding insurance needs to be made more widely available to people of all income levels.

"For some people, it is a heavy financial burden," Pralle said. "However, the solution I think, is not to forgo flood insurance, but to find ways to make it affordable for those who cannot afford it."

While some private insurance providers offer flooding or "sewage back-up" policies, there's also federally-backed policies available through the National Flood Insurance Program.

A spokesperson for FEMA tells ABC7 all communities in Cook County are eligible for these kinds of policies.

"Flood damage is typically not covered by homeowner's insurance, so it's important to consider purchasing a flood insurance policy," a FEMA spokesperson said by email, adding that, "There is a 30-day waiting period before a flood insurance policy becomes effective, so it's important to act now."

To learn more about the National Flood Insurance Program, and the policies it offers, click here or call 1-800-427-2419.

Organizations are looking to find solutions as climate change increasing flood risk for uninsured homes and businesses in Cook County.

Some organizations are empowering residents to come up with solutions to alleviate the rising waters.

Cyatharine Alias is a Senior Manager of Community Infrastructure and Resilience for the nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology.

"Rain gardens are one method of stormwater management," Alias said.

What looks like an average garden at the Correta Pekny Park off of Stewart Avenue in Riverdale is actually a powerful investment for the community, Alias explained.

Beneath the colorful blooms, buried underground is a basin the size of a large concrete mixer truck, capable of collecting nearly 6,000 gallons of water.

Alias said the plants and soil planted here were handpicked, as they can absorb more water than on average.

"Green infrastructure," like this, is one of many solutions Alias said communities need.

"We need solutions that are flexible and able to respond to the different climate realities we're going to be facing," Alias said.

The project was not cheap, but Alias said it was paid for by federal and local grants, as well as some nonprofit sources.

"It's really helpful when solutions can do multiple things," Alias explained. "Here, we have flood, or stormwater management. But we also can think about being in a green space, and the mental health benefits. Especially because it's right next to a playground, that way youth and their families might be able to explore nature in a different way."

Down in Carvlin's Blue Island basement, she has that 2013 storm memorialized on her wall, with a line marking how high the water rose off the ground and the date of the flood: April 18, 2013.

"It was a horror show," Carvlin said.

Carvlin said she hopes more communities will embrace solutions, like rain gardens and other forms of green infrastructure, to deal with surging storm water.

With more and more areas under development, Carvlin said, "There's a lot of coverage of ground that formerly, in nature's own way of doing things, was absorbing water. And so it's just simple mechanics, you have to think about how that water is not being absorbed and make it more absorbent."