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CHICAGO (AP/CBS 2/STNG/WBBM)- - Governor Rod Blagojevich has declared seven Illinois counties state disaster areas.
The governor visited an American Red Cross shelter for flood victims in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines on Monday before taking an aerial tour of the flooded areas.
The counties covered by the declaration are Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, LaSalle and Will. Residents in those counties are working to recover from flooding caused by record-setting rains over the weekend.
The governor's office says the state disaster declaration means more state assets and personnel will be available to flooded communities.
So far, the state has already provided 130,000 sandbags, along with several water pumps and boats to help with evacuations.
Meanwhile, the post-flood cleanup has began in earnest in and around Chicago.
Pete Palermo manages the Keystone Ace Hardware in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood.
And he says the top sellers today are bleach and mops as residents try to sweep away the watery grime and disinfect drenched basements.
Palermo says contractors are also coming in for supplies as they begin tearing down and replacing damaged dry wall and floor tiling.
Three days of rain overwhelmed Chicago's sewer systems -- making water back up and turning streets and parking lots into mini lakes. The rain-swollen Chicago River also caused flooding in places like Albany Park.
Palermo says his store already sold out of sump and utility pumps over the weekend.
He says people were frantic as they came in, desperate to find ways to get water out of their homes.
ROADWAYS AND RAILWAYS
The Bishop Ford Freeway has re-opened. No other major expressways were reported closed as of Monday afternoon. 
DEATHS
Four water-related deaths have already been reported in the Chicago area.
In Oak Lawn, Eduardas Jokuvauskas, 83, of 10320 Linder Ave. in Oak Lawn, drowned in a window well outside his southwest suburban home Saturday, said the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
In Arlington Heights, Alan G. Byrd, 28, of 2703 School Dr. in Rolling Meadows drowned Saturday afternoon trying to swim across a retention pond at Sunset Meadows Park, 700 S. Dwyer Ave., authorities said.
In northwest Indiana, a father and grandfather died trying to save a 12-year-old who fell into a rain-swollen ditch in Chesterton, Ind., according to the Chesterton Fire Department.
Additionally, emergency crews are still looking for a man who went missing in the flood waters Sunday night in downtown New Lenox, authorities said.
RESCUES
The flooding has also prompted numerous rescues by area fire departments.
In Northbrook, Fire Chief Mark Nolan rescued a woman trapped in a submerged car at 1150 Willow Rd. Saturday afternoon, he said. In Prospect Heights, firefighters rescued a woman Saturday afternoon from a submerged vehicle near Willow and Elmhurst roads.
In Franklin Park, firefighters rescued about 50 people from their homes after Silver Creek caused flooding that was waist-high in some residences, officials said.
In Joliet, firefighters, city employees and animal control workers rescued two 6-week-old puppies trapped in an underground drain tile in the 1000 block of Hacker Avenue Saturday afternoon.
Chicago’s Office of Emergency Communications said crews remain in the Northwest Side’s Albany Park neighborhood sandbagging the Chicago River and Chicago Police will continue to patrol the area Sunday night to provide additional safety, according to an OEMC release. Traffic control officials will also be on the scene to deal with the morning rush.
About 300 residents have been impacted by the flooding, which the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District says is beginning to recede.
SHELTERS
The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago has opened additional shelters on the Northwest Side early Sunday to help those displaced by the flooding of the Chicago River.
- The current Red Cross shelter locations are:
- Des Plaines Park District at 515 E. Thacker St. in Des Plaines
- St. Stevens Lutheran Church at 14700 S. Kildare Ave. in Midlothian
- Mt. Carmel School, 1101 N. 23rd Avenue in Melrose Park
- North Park College at 5801 N. Pulaski Rd.
DAMAGE
The flooding prompted Cook County Board President Todd Stroger to declare a state of emergency Sunday. The formal declaration allows Stroger to request Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to declare a state of emergency on behalf of the county and make the county eligible for federal emergency disaster funds, according to a Stroger release.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has been moving billions of gallons of storm water from Cook County’s rivers into Lake Michigan to help minimize flooding.
The Lockport Controlling Works has also discharged an additional 13 billion gallons of storm water towards the Mississippi River. The district estimates this storm system has brought more than 90 billion gallons of storm water to Cook County.
The weather service said the Des Plaines River near Des Plaines and Riverside and the Kankakee River in the far southwester suburbs are at an especially high risk of flooding. Chicago Police have also reported flooding of the North Branch of the Chicago River near Foster Avenue.
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich has directed Illinois’ emergency agencies to assist the Chicago area in its flood recovery-efforts.
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