2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
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 →Many roads became impassable. One bridge was moved about a foot. The flooding from this event combined with the late April flooding caused very heavy damage. Saline County was declared a federal disaster area.
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 →Thunderstorms intensified within a zone of strong southerly low level winds that provided abundant warmth and moisture. These strong low level winds enhanced wind shear, which promoted the development of supercells with isolated tornadoes.
Read the full account →Flooding of the Ohio River continued from late February through the entire month of March. The exceptions were at Golconda and Shawneetown, which fell below flood stage between the 28th and 30th. The flooding was considered moderate.
Read the full account →Flooding of the Ohio River continued from late February through the entire month of March. The exceptions were at Golconda and Shawneetown, which fell below flood stage between the 28th and 30th. The flooding was considered moderate.
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 →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 →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 Mississippi River rose above flood stage late in the month. A series of heavy rainfall events gradually forced the river upward at an unsteady rate. The river continued rising past the end of the month. Impacts of the May crest will be included in the May report.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms repeatedly moved over the same areas, causing excessive rainfall amounts over 3 inches in 3 hours. Numerous roads were flooded from DuQuoin to West Frankfort.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms repeatedly moved over the same areas, causing excessive rainfall amounts over 3 inches in 3 hours. Numerous roads were flooded from DuQuoin to West Frankfort.
Read the full account →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 →An upper level disturbance induced a surface low pressure on a boundary across Eastern Iowa that moved into Northwest Illinois and far Northeast Missouri. Subsequent thunderstorms that developed were prolific hail producers due to extremely cold air aloft.
Read the full account →A cold front stretching across the upper Midwest, coupled with warm moist air streaming northward across the area, brought scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to portions of east central Iowa and northern Illinois during the midday hours August 9.
Read the full account →An outflow boundary from a large complex of thunderstorms that tracked across Iowa and northern Illinois the night before dropped southward on July 24th. Convection developed along this boundary, with a bow echo eventually taking shape across northern Missouri.
Read the full account →A warm front lifted slowly northward through central Illinois during the afternoon of May 20th. A few showers developed in the vicinity of the boundary...with one of the cells producing a brief EF-0 tornado near Oakland in northeastern Coles County.
Read the full account →An area of low pressure tracked from southeastern Nebraska during the morning of April 2nd to western Wisconsin by evening, triggering two rounds of convection across central Illinois.||Round 1 occurred during the morning when a line of thunderstorms along the trailing cold…
Read the full account →An area of low pressure tracked from southeastern Nebraska during the morning of April 2nd to western Wisconsin by evening, triggering two rounds of convection across central Illinois.||Round 1 occurred during the morning when a line of thunderstorms along the trailing cold…
Read the full account →An area of low pressure tracked from southeastern Nebraska during the morning of April 2nd to western Wisconsin by evening, triggering two rounds of convection across central Illinois.||Round 1 occurred during the morning when a line of thunderstorms along the trailing cold…
Read the full account →Several waves of low pressure tracking along a stationary frontal boundary draped across the Ohio River Valley brought periods of showers and thunderstorms to the southern half of Illinois from April 3rd through April 5th.
Read the full account →A slow-moving cold front progressed across Illinois during the afternoon and evening of June 30th, 2025, interacting with a very moist, unstable airmass and resulting in clusters of thunderstorms.
Read the full account →A slow-moving cold front progressed across Illinois during the afternoon and evening of June 30th, 2025, interacting with a very moist, unstable airmass and resulting in clusters of thunderstorms.
Read the full account →An outflow boundary interacting with a warm and very humid environment triggered clusters of slow-moving thunderstorms across east-central Illinois during the evening of July 26th.
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