MOOSEHEART -- Violent thunderstorms ripped through southern Kane County, Illinois in the afternoon and evening of Thursday, Aug. 23, lashing Mooseheart Child City & School with up to 10 inches of rain.

But despite numerous funnel clouds having been reported in the area, and flooding which damaged many waterfront residences and businesses along the Fox River, the Mooseheart campus's relatively high topography helped the Child City emerge with comparatively little damage, reported Facilities Director Keith Strutz.

TV news viewers across the U.S. saw shots of riverside property owners facing serious damage, and heard Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich declare Kane County a disaster area, causing concern among Moose members several states away, which Strutz sought to dispel.

"We were helped by the fact that most of our property sits up pretty high," Strutz noted. High winds did heavily damage six campus trees, and blockage in one storm-sewer line did cause "a few inches" of flooding to the basement of one campus home -- the Ontario residence, where carpet and padding was pulled up and will likely have to be replaced.

But after that damage was cleaned up, and after high water dropped early this week which had briefly flooded the campus's water-treatment plant near the river, life at Mooseheart was essentially back to normal by the weekend.