2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Heavy rain began falling across northeast Illinois during the afternoon hours of Saturday, October 13th and continued into the evening hours. Basement and street flooding occurred in Mt. Prospect in Cook county.
Read the full account →A cold front lifted north and stalled over the region for a few days. A couple of areas of low pressure developed and moved northeast along the front, bringing multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms.
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the last week of April resulted in the Rock River at Joslin and Moline going above their respective moderate flood stage levels during the first few days of May.||The Rock River at Joslin surpassed its moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on May 1 around 6…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the last week of April resulted in the Rock River at Joslin and Moline going above their respective moderate flood stage levels during the first few days of May.||The Rock River at Joslin surpassed its moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on May 1 around 6…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the last week of April resulted in the Rock River at Joslin and Moline going above their respective moderate flood stage levels during the first few days of May.||The Rock River at Joslin surpassed its moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on May 1 around 6…
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Paducah, 15.91 inches of rain fell in April, which was 10.96 inches above normal.
Read the full account →The Little Wabash River crested at 35.3 feet on May 3, well above the flood stage of 27 feet. Widespread flooding occurred around Carmi. The combined result of local flash flooding, Wabash River flooding, and Little Wabash River flooding resulted in a federal disaster…
Read the full account →Widespread river flooding occurred as a result of several heavy rain events in June. The remnants of Tropical Storm Bill on the 19th were responsible for widespread heavy rain that drove most of the smaller rivers above flood stage.
Read the full account →Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed in an increasingly warm and moist airmass in parts of central Illinois during the afternoon of June 18th.
Read the full account →Isolated flash flooding occurred during the evening of July 6. A slow-moving thunderstorm complex backed slowly southwestward across western Kentucky and southern Illinois.
Read the full account →Severe thunderstorms developed over northeast Illinois during the afternoon on October 2nd. These thunderstorms caused significant wind damage across parts of the Chicago Metro Area.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms trained over portions of northern Illinois including the Chicago Metro area for several hours during the evening of August 4th. The highest storm total rainfall reports came in at over four inches, including 4.45 inches near Berwyn and 4.12 inches near…
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Paducah, 15.91 inches of rain fell in April, which was 10.96 inches above normal.
Read the full account →The Wabash River was above flood stage for nearly the entire month at both Mt. Carmel and New Harmony. Major flooding occurred at Mount Carmel, where the river crested at 32.4 feet on May 17. Flood stage there is 19 feet.
Read the full account →Moderate to major flooding of the Ohio River and some of its tributaries occurred. A state disaster declaration included Massac, Pope, Hardin, and Gallatin Counties. Floodfighting activities included the construction of temporary sandbag levees.
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the second week of May resulted in moderate flooding on the Rock River.||At Joslin, the river level surpassed the moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on May 15 around 10 am. It crested around 14.5 feet around 1 pm May 16.
Read the full account →The remnants of Hurricane Isaac brought heavy rain and thunderstorms with isolated damaging winds. A southwesterly low level jet around 40 knots persisted along the southeastern flank of the circulation from Isaac.
Read the full account →Rain bands associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill produced isolated tornadoes and locally very heavy rainfall. The convective character of the bands increased during the afternoon due to short intervals of sunshine that destabilized the atmosphere.
Read the full account →A couple of rounds of heavy rain in the Mississippi River Valley combined with melting snows from up north caused rises along the Mississippi River leading to major flooding. Backwater from the Mississippi River caused the Big Muddy River to rise above flood stage.
Read the full account →A low pressure system moved towards northern Illinois during the evening hours, causing thunderstorms to develop in the afternoon and evening hours across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana.
Read the full account →Widespread flooding continued from April into May across southern Illinois. Following excessive rain in April, a final dose of heavy rain came between April 30 and May 2. Numerous rounds of showers and thunderstorms produced additional average rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms dumped up to 3 inches of rain in about 4 hours, mainly over southern portions of Champaign County. Five homes in Broadlands sustained major damage and 29 homes sustained minor damage. The local high school also suffered flood damage.
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in moderate flooding on the Mississippi River from Rock Island to Gregory Landing.||At Rock Island, it crested around 17.2 feet around 1 pm July 27.|At Illinois City, it crested around 17.0 feet around 7 am July 28.|At…
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