CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s been nearly two weeks since record-breaking storms ravaged Chicago, and many residents of the city’s West Side are still cleaning up the floodwaters.
CBS 2’s Noel Brennan met a family who really can’t put a price on what they lost.
His house was once filled with at least 3 feet of water. The water is gone, but work continues every day as they sort through flooded properties.
In one afternoon the water took away what the family took a decade to create.
In her mind, it doesn’t make much sense to try to dry out something destroyed by floodwater, but it’s Melanie McQueen’s heart that refuses to part with the items she carefully stored in the basement of her home in ‘Oak Park.
“We’re going to pull everything out of the garage in an effort to save what we have left and put it on the lawn,” he said. “Some people might say, ‘Well, why are you holding on to it?’ And it’s like that took two weeks to do.”
On July 2, a heavy rain flooded their basement and took away decades of family memories.
Avery lost artwork from elementary school.
“I had 56 books, and now I have three,” he said.
Ambria lost her college memories.
“Can water really wash away four years of my adulthood, my college experience, my first job? And it did,” he said.
And the whole family mourns the loss of costumes and set pieces they created together.
“It’s passion, blood, sweat and tears, especially tears now,” Melanie said.
She is the executive director of the Kuumba Kids dance group.
“Every square footage of the house was covered with our Kuumba Kids costumes, backdrops, props, as if it was there,” he said.
The after school dance program starts again in three months.
“We have potentially 60 students who have three different dance routines and they have costumes for each dance routine. And I have nothing,” she said.
Insurance will not cover priceless suits.
“Here all the jewels were placed by hand,” he said.
Melanie knows she can’t save everything, but she’s not ready to give up the routine.
“I can’t. I can’t,” he said. “I don’t care how messed up it is. It’s really hard to let go of something you put your heart and soul into.”
Each family affected by the floods has its own story of loss. Melanie said the new neighbors had just moved into a house behind hers. They stored almost everything they had in the basement and lost it in the flood.
