2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
A prolonged period of rainfall occurred from the early morning hours of December 26th to the evening of December 28th. The heaviest rainfall occurred in a 50 to 75 mile wide swath from southwest Missouri through the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area and into central Illinois.
Read the full account →A multi-faceted storm system brought several periods of heavy rain to central and southeast Illinois from December 26th through 28th. The system began to spread rain into the region from the southwest during the early morning hours of Saturday, December 26th, with the rain…
Read the full account →Hot and humid conditions prevailed across the region July 27, as a warm front lifted northward into northeast Iowa. Showers and thunderstorms developed along the Highway 20 corridor in Dubuque, Jo Daviess and Stephenson Counties during the early evening hours of July 27.
Read the full account →Hot and humid conditions prevailed across the region July 27, as a warm front lifted northward into northeast Iowa. Showers and thunderstorms developed along the Highway 20 corridor in Dubuque, Jo Daviess and Stephenson Counties during the early evening hours of July 27.
Read the full account →Torrential rainfall amounts from 6 to 12 inches occurred over a two-day period, causing an historic flood event. A very slow-moving cold front over southwest Illinois and southeast Missouri provided the focus for prolonged heavy rainfall.
Read the full account →High impact flooding on the Illinois River continued from April into much of May. Excessive rainfall during the middle of April led to widespread flooding across a large part of northern and central Illinois and resulted in record flooding along the Illinois River in central…
Read the full account →A series of slow-moving lines and clusters of thunderstorms moved east-southeast across southern Illinois from the midday hours through the early evening hours. The storms produced flooding rains and isolated strong wind gusts.
Read the full account →A developing line of thunderstorms moved east-southeast across southern Illinois during the late morning and early afternoon hours. The storms moved through a moist and unstable environment ahead of a 500 mb shortwave trough over the mid and upper Mississippi Valley.
Read the full account →As strong solar heating destabilized the atmosphere, numerous clusters of intense thunderstorms blossomed from southeast Missouri to southwest Indiana. The main impact associated with these storms was flash flooding.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms developed during the evening of July 14th and continued into the early morning of July 15th, as they moved across all of northern and central Illinois. Nine tornadoes occurred, along with widespread wind damage.
Read the full account →A series of heavy rainfall events in April, followed by another heavy rainfall event in early May, kept many rivers above flood stage for all or most of the month. Some of the river flooding was major.
Read the full account →A very heavy rainfall event on the 3rd caused the Cache River to overflow its banks. A potent storm system lifted out of the Southwest during the first few days of the year. An area of low pressure opened up as it entered the southern Plains.
Read the full account →Several episodes of heavy rain from June 2nd through the 4th, and again on the 6th, produced copious amounts of rain and extensive flooding in eastern Illinois which persisted for two weeks.
Read the full account →Minor flooding occurred along the Lower Wabash River and the Big Muddy River, and moderate flooding occurred on the Little Wabash River. A heavy rainfall event on March 3 was followed by a winter storm on March 4 into early March 5.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall shortly before Christmas caused sharp rises on regional rivers. The heavy rainfall was caused by a slow-moving cold front that passed across the Lower Ohio and Mid Mississippi Valleys between the 20th and 22nd.
Read the full account →A strong cold front brought widespread showers and thunderstorms to central Illinois from the afternoon of March 30th through the pre-dawn hours of March 31st. 24-hour rainfall totals ranged from 2 to 3 inches, which caused localized flash flooding of a few rural roads.
Read the full account →Scattered severe thunderstorms moved across parts of northern Illinois during the late evening of May 14th. Additional thunderstorms produced heavy rain and localized flash flooding during the late evening of May 14th into the morning of May 15th.
Read the full account →A prolonged period of rainfall occurred from the early morning hours of December 26th to the evening of December 28th. The heaviest rainfall occurred in a 50 to 75 mile wide swath from southwest Missouri through the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area and into central Illinois.
Read the full account →Extensive flooding ensued from heavy rainfall near the end of December 2015. The rain/sleet storm on December 28th produced precipitation amounts between 2 and 3|inches within portions of the Kankakee, Vermilion, Iroquois, and upper Illinois watersheds.
Read the full account →The Mississippi River remained high through the month of April due to a combination of snow melt and several rounds of heavy rain. Several points on the river remained above major flood stage through the month. All locations along the river observed two crests through the month.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall occurred during the period from February 20th to early February 22nd. Between 3 to 4 inches of rain fell over parts of Northern Illinois.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms produced heavy rain over southern Kane, much of Du Page and part of Cook County. Heavier rainfall amounts included 2.72 inches at Aurora, 2.51 inches at Burr Ridge, 2.5 inches at Bolingbrook, 2.23 inches near Midway Airport and 1.99 inches at Willow Springs.
Read the full account →After several rounds of precipitation over Central Illinois during the first couple weeks of May, area rivers rose above flood stage at most locations.
Read the full account →A warm front lifted northward into the region during the early morning hours of May 15th, triggering a large complex of thunderstorms across Iowa. These storms tracked eastward into north-central Illinois producing very heavy rain west of the Illinois River during the morning.
Read the full account →