The Southwest Side of Chicago is still recovering from flood damage over the weekend, with homeowners filing reports with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, trying to get money to help rebuild.

Meantime, questions remain about millions of dollars previously awarded to Chicago to help flood victims in 2023 and 2024, but that has not yet been spent.

Hundreds of millions of dollars has been granted to Chicago to help rebuild from severe storms in 2023 and 2024, and to help prevent future floods, but not only has that money not yet been spent, Mayor Brandon Johnson's office said their plans for the funding have yet to be approved by the federal government.

On Wednesday, elected leaders on the Southwest Side pleaded with neighbors to file reports with FEMA and through their offices; an effort for individual homeowners to receive disaster relief money and to put pressure on the federal government to approve a disaster declaration for the most recent storms in Chicago.

"I've called for this area to be declared a disaster zone so that flow can directly flow to the residents that need it," U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-IL) said.

Ald. Jeylú Gutiérrez (14th) said her office has received 2,000 reports of storm damage since July.

"Why does this keep happening to us?" Gutierrez said.

At least a dozen people showed up to Gutierrez's ward office on Wednesday, trying to figure out how they can get financial help to recover from the flooding.

"It's been a disaster, because, you know, Sunday our basement got drowned with water," said Ignacio Cruz, one of those people who went to Gutierrez's ward office.

Cruz and his mom have lived in the same basement apartment for more than a decade. He said his landlord won't fix flood damage in their home. Now Cruz said he's sleeping on the floor without anywhere else to go to avoid the damage.

"We lost a lot of stuff. If we were talking about money, it would be around $4,500 to $5,000. I lost everything; my computer, my phone, my tablet," he said.

So far, city officials said they have been awarded $168 million in direct aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency following the 2023 storms, as well as another $426 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster relief from severe storms in 2023 and 2024.

That money from HUD has not been spent. The mayor's office said it has a plan for that funding, but HUD must approve the city's plan before they can move forward. The city's plan, which would partly aim to improve drainage on 233 blocks in Chicago, was submitted in July, and the federal government has 45 days to approve it, so the city is hoping to hear back soon.

Neighbors on the Southwest Side have been left hoping something is done before the next storm hits.