City of Des Plaines is #1 - At the Wrong Thing!!

Sometimes it is nice for a community to be at the top of the list and sometimes it is not!
Being a math guy, I always gravitate toward numbers, and because the No Flood Zone folks in the 8th Ward of Des Plaines are concerned about flooding, I decided to do some research and found some interesting Illinois statistics by city on FEMA' s website. The data only includes people who have flood insurance, so it's missing a significant amount of losses due to backup of sewer and sump pump coverage, which is only available through an insurer, because flood insurance only covers you for losses due to overland flooding (i.e., surface water).

I have posted a Google Spreadsheet exhibit from the source data. It shows open and closed claims, the number of claims without payment, and total payments, sorted in descending order of payments, for the period January 1, 1978 through April 30, 2009. Guess which community had the worst experience? You guessed it - Des Plaines - "The City of Destiny" - destined to become "The City of the Destitute" if our public officials do not make flood prevention a top priority. From January 1, 1978 through April 30, 2009, insured losses for the City of Des Plaines totaled a staggering $18.1 million at an average payment of $22,000.

You have to go pretty far down the list to get to Mount Prospect (#121), so the idea of seceding from Des Plaines and becoming part of Mount Prospect is becoming more and more appealing to folks on the west end of town in the 8th Ward.

I have requested similar data from the Department of Insurance, but just for losses due to sewer and sump pump coverage. I am confident that those numbers will be very alarming and place Des Plaines close to the top once again.

Spreadsheet from the the FEMA statistics.

Hey, it's nice to be number one - at the right thing!!

FELLOW RESIDENTS OF DES PLAINES - DO WE REALLY WANT THIS REPUTATION?

CALL THE MAYOR MOYLAN, CALL ALL OF THE ALDERMEN, AND CALL THE CITY MANAGER AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!