Thanks to unseasonably low water levels, islands of silt, rock and sand — and even an abandoned car — have emerged in the Fox River near East and West Dundee and Carpentersville.
Heavy rain in early April in Wisconsin is to blame, according to Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Communications Director Jayette Bolinski.
“There are four dams upstream of the state line, three of which are used to control fairly large lakes. When they receive high rainfall events, they open the dams,” Bolinski said.
At the same time, the INDR is in the process of having water in the Fox River system switch from the winter levels to summer levels to accommodate boating, particularly on the Chain of Lakes, she said.
This is done by reducing the outflow from Stratton Lock and Dam in McHenry County, which is the passage between the river and the Chain of Lakes. Done over the course of the month of April, it prevents flooding from spring rains and typically is complete by May 1 for the opening of the locks, Bolinski said.
Because of the rain in Wisconsin, Fox Lake’s water levels were higher than they normally would be at this time of year, prompting the IDNR to make adjustments and the inflow to the Fox to drop dramatically. Strong southern winds also contributed to water from the Chain of Lakes not making its way to the river, Bolinski said.
The river’s appearance was so dramatic that it caught the eye of Carpentersville resident Brad McFeggan.
“I’ve never seen the Fox River so low before so I had to stop Friday to snag a few photos,” McFeggan said.
Kane County Board Member Jarett Sanchez, a Carpentersville resident who represents District 24, says it should be a short-lived problem.
“Once we get more rain and the Chain adjusts, then the flow will improve,” Sanchez said. “I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but there’s nothing we can do about it since the state controls it.”
He first noticed the low levels and the new islands in the river last week, he said. They can be seen in spots south of the Main Street bridge in Carpentersville and south of the Longmeadow Parkway bridge over the Fox.
Bolinski said the formations are most likely a temporary result of the Carpentersville dam being removed last fall, while the river reconfigures.
McFeggan also warned people to resist the temptation to walk out onto one of the deposits.
“Depending on how deep the silt is, you could sink down like quicksand and get stuck,” he said.
It was a lesson he learned firsthand last fall. While exploring the river’s edge, McFeggan said his legs sank down into about two-and-a-half feet of silt.
“I had to crawl about 10 to 15 feet to firmer ground before I was able to stand up again,” he said.
As for the car, people first noticed it in the weeks after the dam was removed because the water level dropped near where it had been abandoned off the west bank, about 100 yards north of the Carpentersville gazebo.
While they don’t know how it ended up there, village firefighters and police removed the vehicle last week, Carpentersville Police Chief Todd Shaver said.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much information other than that it was an Oldsmobile, built somewhere between 1968 and 1972. It was pretty well rusted out. No VIN was found on it, and there was no plate,” he said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
