Residents along Fox River working to prevent rising waters from reaching their homes

People who live on the Fox River near Crystal Lake are doing everything they can to prevent water from reaching their homes.

The river is expected to crest on Wednesday, but homeowners in Holiday Hills are already dealing with some issues as the water is rising quickly.

Kayla Bentivenga's home on Waterview Avenue is now an island, as it is in the water. She said on Monday, it surrounded the place she and her family called home for the last three years.

"It's been crazy because it wasn't even this bad this morning. It was pushed back probably 10 feet," she said.

Bentivenga said their crawlspace is flooded, along with their shed full of furniture, decorations, and grills. She said the timing couldn't be worse.

"Scared, very scared, we are also supposed to get married May 1," she said. "Thank god we didn't want a backyard wedding."

"Essentially just trying to keep the water from reaching the rafters in my house," Domenic said.

Domenic lives down the road, where the river is also consuming his house and is up to the windows of his neighbor's. He said there are already 8 inches inside, but the nearly 700 sandbags on the perimeter and six non-stop pumps are working.

"Nunda Township did a really nice job, all the volunteers and everybody, we got a ton of sandbags, so I picked some up, and they dropped some off," he said.

It's a well-oiled machine at the Nunda Township Highway Department. There, a couple dozen workers and volunteers worked all day filling, sewing, and shipping 1,000 sandbags an hour. In the last five days, they have filled 64,000 bags.

"We have a lot of residents who this is their first time going through it, and they aren't sure what to do, so we are helping them out the best we can," said Nunda Township Supervisor Mike Shorten.

"People been stopping by, 'Hey, can we help?'" Domenic said.

He said it's been humbling to have people across the community come by and check in.

"Yes, there's been multiple fish, different kinds, too," Bentivenga said.

She said they are now living among the fish, and she's nervous about what she might find once the water recedes.

"Kind of gross, but this entire area is on septic, so all that I'm sure is coming up soon, too," she said.

Nunda Township said the real mess comes in a couple of weeks when the sandbags will need to be cleaned up. They said the bags can't just be thrown out because they are contaminated, so they actually take them to an asphalt company that burns them to make asphalt.