GRAFTON - Grafton Mayor Rick Eberlin reported the barricades through Grafton have almost all been removed as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night.
Barricades had been stationed on Highway 100, which operates as the main thoroughfare through town, following what Eberlin described as "top 10 flooding" in Grafton over the last two weeks. As of last evening, Eberlin said the final barricade in town was stationed near the Hawg Pit, located at 821 W. Main St. He said detours around the water still in that particularly low spot of town were readily available for travelers wanting to go westward toward the wineries and Pere Marquette Park.
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"As far as I know, the Hawg Pit is the only restaurant not reopening this weekend," Eberlin said Wednesday evening.
Hawg Pit owner Steve Kasten has told Riverbender.com in previous interviews the restaurant and bar is built with flooding in mind. He said the wiring within the joint has been done to accommodate rising waters. Also, Kasten said everything is on rollers and can easily be moved out and back inside the place within hours - assuming he has a team of volunteers.
Volunteers were a major part of Grafton's ability to overcome this current flood, Eberlin said. He said while the people of Grafton are "experts" when it comes to flooding, this particular incident illustrated his assessment even further because of Grafton's quick recovery time following the deluge. During the cleanup process, Eberlin said people of Grafton as well as a crew from Illinois American Water helped clean large swatches of mud and silt the river brought as well as sizable logs of driftwood, which would have otherwise posed a potential threat to motorists by blocking the roadway.
The Grafton Police Department, though small in number, spent 24 hours a day stationed at the village's intersections during the flooding, Eberlin said. Without police being posted at each of Grafton's intersections, Eberlin said the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) would have not allowed them to stay open.
Considering the amount of work Grafton put into preserving its businesses during the flood, Eberlin was extremely pleased to announce most of the businesses were set to open by this weekend. The Hawg Pit has to clean, disinfect and pass an inspection before it is able to reopen - which is standard procedure following each flood in Grafton.
Having been sworn in on May 2, 2017, Eberlin described the flooding crisis as a "baptism by fire" as he took the reigns of Grafton's administration from outgoing Grafton Mayor Tom Thompson, who supported Eberlin's candidacy.
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