GRAFTON, Illinois — The pumps are running again in Grafton, Illinois, after an overnight emergency.
Mayor Rick Eberline said one of the two pumps on Main Street never kicked "on" like it was supposed to. Early Monday morning they were flooded with water coming not over the flood wall, but bubbling up from underneath dry parts of the city.
"This wall's going to hold that, there's no doubt," Eberline said standing atop the wall that separates Grafton from the high waters mixed from the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri rivers. "The problem we're having is under pressure, starting down the street, pushing up. You can actually feel the street buckle when you walk on it."
Eberline said water is coming through a fire hydrant line and pouring out of a manhole now hidden in the center of a ring of sandbags.
One of the areas at risk is the historic Grafton United Methodist Church. Bob Rolley is one of the people watching the water and taking stock of the damage.
"You can see some of the water spots on the boxes right there," Rolley said, pointing to cardboard supplies pulled from storage in the church basement.
There are only a few steps visible on the way into the basement before you hit murky water. The basement is flooded about five feet high, by design. Eberline said they need the water to equalize the extreme pressure coming from the saturated ground, otherwise the walls of the church would cave in.
When Eberline put out a call for help on Facebook asking for sandbaggers, people turned out with such force the volunteers were soon scraping together sand for the last bags off parking lot cement.
"As a mayor, and as a town, I can't thank you enough," Eberline told the crowd.
"[There was] a tremendous turnout for sandbaggers. It's unbelievable. We went through almost 40 tons of sand in a matter of four hours. That's pretty impressive. If that,” Eberline said.
Volunteers built new walls along the edge of the city, and city workers drilled holes into the pavement to alleviate pressure. But Eberline said they'll have to keep an eye on the pumps around the clock. If one stops again, it's a matter of minutes before they're in too deep.
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