2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Scattered thunderstorms once again developed across northern Illinois on Monday, August 29th, bringing isolated very heavy rainfall amounts due to a moist atmosphere and slow storm motion.
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 →During the evening hours of July 10th, a line of thunderstorms developed in eastern Iowa and moved into northwest Illinois. These storms produced isolated large hail and damaging wind gusts in Carroll, Jo Daviess, Henry, Bureau, and Rock Island Counties.
Read the full account →During the evening hours of July 10th, a line of thunderstorms developed in eastern Iowa and moved into northwest Illinois. These storms produced isolated large hail and damaging wind gusts in Carroll, Jo Daviess, Henry, Bureau, and Rock Island Counties.
Read the full account →Heavy rain falling on saturated ground caused water levels to rise quickly. After the initial rapid rises, a prolonged period of flooding set in as light to moderate rain continued to fall.
Read the full account →Slow-moving thunderstorms with torrential rain developed over southern Illinois during the heat of the afternoon. The storms were most concentrated north of a line from Carbondale to the mouth of the Wabash River.
Read the full account →A narrow line of thunderstorms moved quickly northeast across southeast Illinois. The storms were located in a region of strong warm advection near a low level jet in excess of 50 knots. Marginal instability developed as a surface warm front lifted northward.
Read the full account →Strong to severe thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the afternoon and evening hours of July 23rd producing strong winds. Additional thunderstorms developed in the late evening of July 23rd and lasted in the early morning hours of July 24th producing very heavy…
Read the full account →Strong to severe thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois during the afternoon and evening hours of July 23rd producing strong winds. Additional thunderstorms developed in the late evening of July 23rd and lasted in the early morning hours of July 24th producing very heavy…
Read the full account →Slow moving thunderstorms dumped up to 8 inches of rain over a 10 hour period. Numerous roads throughout the county were underwater and some sustained damage. Also, flooding was reported in several towns including Rushville, mainly some basement and street flooding.
Read the full account →Heavy rain-producing showers and thunderstorms moved across parts of southeast Iowa, northeast Missouri, and western Illinois during the late evening of June 14 and early morning of June 15.
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 →Well above normal rainfall upstream on the White, Wabash, and Ohio Rivers late March through mid-April led to minor flooding occurring mid-month along the Wabash River and just downstream of the Wabash/Ohio confluence in Southeast Illinois.
Read the full account →Well above normal rainfall upstream on the White, Wabash, and Ohio Rivers late March through mid-April led to minor flooding occurring mid-month along the Wabash River and just downstream of the Wabash/Ohio confluence in Southeast Illinois.
Read the full account →Well above normal rainfall upstream on the White, Wabash, and Ohio Rivers late March through mid-April led to minor flooding occurring mid-month along the Wabash River and just downstream of the Wabash/Ohio confluence in Southeast Illinois.
Read the full account →Up to five inches of rain fell from a nearly stationary thunderstorm on Clinton County, causing widespread flash flooding. Most of the damage occurred in Germantown, where residents had to be evacuated from flooded neighborhoods. At least 40 homes suffered water damage.
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 →A low pressure system brought showers and thunderstorms to eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri, and northwest Illinois during the afternoon and evening of May 25.
Read the full account →Strong to severe thunderstorms moved across northern Illinois from mid morning through early afternoon, producing numerous reports of hail, heavy rain, flooding and flash flooding.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall accompanied thunderstorms that moved across east central Illinois on June 5th and June 6th. Rainfall totals ranged from 3 to 6 inches from southern La Salle county across Livingston county, northern Ford county and Iroquois county.
Read the full account →A line of thunderstorms dropped southward into east central Iowa and northwest Illinois during the late evening of July 3rd and early morning hours of July 4th. The storms produced torrential rains with rainfall rates over 1 inch per hour.
Read the full account →A line of thunderstorms dropped southward into east central Iowa and northwest Illinois during the late evening of July 3rd and early morning hours of July 4th. The storms produced torrential rains with rainfall rates over 1 inch per hour.
Read the full account →A large upper trough with a closed upper low slowly moved east across the Central United States March 17th through the 19th. This allowed a strong southerly flow to transport copious amounts of moisture from the deep south into the Midwest.
Read the full account →A cold front pushed through Iowa and Illinois during the afternoon and evening of June 19, bringing severe thunderstorms and flooding to much of the area.
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