Parts of Wisconsin, Illinois recover from flooding

BURLINGTON, WIS. » Flooding in the Midwest closed roadways and knocked out power to thousands, including a suburban Chicago hospital that was forced to close, but residents in the Wisconsin city of Burlington appeared upbeat even as portions of streets remained submerged by water Thursday.

Four bridges over the swollen Fox River in Bur- lington remained closed because the waterway is 5 feet above flood stage and almost every business in the city was waiting for power to be restored. Authorities there said nearly everyone is dealing with some type of flood damage in the city of about 10,000.

Police Chief Mark Anderson called the flooding “unprecedented” but local officials and residents were grateful only properties were damaged.

“I’m the happiest person in the world,” said Duane Hoerneman, 72, a lifelong Burlington resident. “Because my children are safe and because all of us are safe. It makes all the difference in the world at this point and we thank everyone for their support.”

In suburban Chicago, Lake Forest Hospital’s clinical operations were still shut down Thursday, according to a statement from Northwestern Medicine. The statement said power at the hospital had been restored Wednesday night after the outage earlier that day. According to the statement, 70 patients were transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and other local facilities.

Lake County was among parts of Illinois hit hard by f looding. Earl ier Wednesday, Mundelein firefighters and police officers evacuated about 25 people from an apartment building. Some senior citizens were taken away on small boats.