During a 24 hour period in mid-July 1996, about 17 inches of rain fell on Shorewood and surrounding areas, causing serious flooding.

Roughly 45 homes along the DuPage River in Shorewood were so damaged, residents were not allowed to return to them. Many of the homes were built decades ago on low-lying land. Under today's rules and regulations, homes would not be permitted to be built on that flood plain.

At the time, Nancy Hoehn (formerly Roman) served as Shorewood's economic development director and worked on flood grants on behalf of the affected residents.

"There were all of these families whose homes were damaged," Hoehn said. "They couldn't return to their homes or pull permits to fix them and they couldn't sell the homes because of the condition they were in."

Village officials decided they needed to do something to help residents and pursued both federal funding and funding from Will County to purchase the homes from residents and demolish them.

"If the village wouldn't have done that, those people stood to lose everything," Hoehn said.

Shorewood resident Kim Anderson said the flood strongly affected her parents. Her childhood home, where her parents lived, was destroyed in the flood. The family had resided there since 1955.

"They wanted to be there forever," Anderson said. "To me, it's very sad because I have a son and I can never take him down there to show him my childhood home."

Anderson acknowledged the village has done a great job of preserving the area the homes once occupied. A memorial stands near the site, with the names of all those who lost homes.

"It's been how many years and I go down there and I still get emotional," Anderson said.

Deb Olson | 815-955-0428 | DebOlsonSellsHomes.com | Spring Realty, 852 Sharp Dr., Suite N, Shorewood, IL