Streets flood and morons try to drive through -- they deserve to have their cars ruined

It always amazes me how moron drivers will take their cheap, broken down jalopies and try to drive through a flooded street. They're idiots and if you see someone whose car has been stalled in a flood in four feet of water, blow them raspberries, because they deserve it. In 99 percent of the cases, the people had a choice to use their brains or be lazy and try to navigate their cars through flooded streets.

There are a few who end up on flooded streets who are stuck in traffic and can't move as the water builds up, but that's a rarity. The majority of cars stuck in flooded waters on flooded streets made the choice to drive through it. I hope their insurance companies refuse to cover them and make them learn a valuable lesson.

Why am I so harsh? Because people whose streets in front of their homes are flooded suffer more damage when morons drive through the floods, creating water waves that damage the surrounding properties. Already several homes in Orland Park have flooded, with most of the water draining around the Orland Park mall into people's homes.

The Mall has a terrible flood removal system and are the biggest cause of flooding in that area. In fact, the Mall's lake flooded -- because Simon Management which announced a major face job for the mediocre indoor shopping center doesn't take care of the ponds near their property.

In other areas, it's failure to take care of your lawns or to use those wood chips as a decorative device around your flower beds and lawns. The wood chips end up floating away -- your money washing down the sewers -- and then they actually cog the sewers, causing the water run-off to drain slower and resulting in flooding. In most cases, if the sewers were not obstructed, the water would drain steadily and help avoid flooding.

Several homes have been flooded in Orland Park. And part of the problem are the motorists who speed through the flash lakes -- again morons -- and cause the flood waters to wave up the property to the homes and then through the window sills.

Flooding is terrible, one of many tragedies that can plague homeowners. I think fire damage would have to be the worst and the most life threatening. It's occurring more and more around the country.

Things you can do?

- Hook your gutter drainage to underground plastic pipes that direct the water away from your home into the street.
- Replace wood chip decorative garden items with rocks.
- Rake your lawn and remove any debris, especially small sticks that tend to float and then clog the sewers.
- Remove any debris from the lawn around your home because they float and clog the sewers. (See a pattern here?)
- Scream at the village officials who can do absolutely nothing, by the way. The water flood consultant they have can come by and express shock at the water levels, but they can't do much more than that.

Sometimes the rainfall comes down so fast and hard there is nothing anyone can do about the accumulation of water in certain areas of the village. It just happens. But homeowners can make a difference. The problem is a community is only as smart as their lowest common denominator. If all the homeowners in an area, except one, takes precautionary measures, the moron who does nothing only undermines all your efforts and they cause the floods to be worse.

My heart and compassion goes out to any neighbors who had flooding as a result of this morning's rains. They deserve better but I am afraid in Orland Park it is not going to happen.

-- Ray Hanania