2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
Low pressure tracked from near Kansas City on the morning of July 15th to southern Lake Michigan by midnight on July 16th. The low interacted with an unstable and very moist environment to produce a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) over eastern Kansas into Missouri, which then…
Read the full account →During the afternoon and evening of the 18th, a few rounds of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall to much of northern Illinois resulting in flash flooding. One particularly strong storm also produced damaging winds in DeKalb County.
Read the full account →Scattered thunderstorms produced heavy rain during the morning of September 11th. A narrow swath of torrential rain fell across portions of the north side of Chicago causing widespread flash flooding and at least 2,000 basements to flood.
Read the full account →Scattered thunderstorms moved across parts of northern Illinois during the afternoon of July 13th producing isolated wind damage.||Scattered thunderstorms developed during the evening of July 13th and continued into the early morning of July 14th producing significant flash…
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 →Major flash flooding struck parts of far southern Illinois. The hardest hit counties were Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac in the southern tip of Illinois.
Read the full account →Highways 145 and 146, the two main arteries through Pope County, were closed by high water and debris. A vehicle attempting to cross a flooded highway became submerged in floodwater.
Read the full account →As high pressure slowly crept northward towards the Quad State region, ridging remained over the middle Mississippi River Valley. A slow-moving MCS moved through the northeastern half of the Quad State midday to near sunset.
Read the full account →During the afternoon and evening of the 18th, a few rounds of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall to much of northern Illinois resulting in flash flooding. One particularly strong storm also produced damaging winds in DeKalb County.
Read the full account →A strong storm system led to significant impacts. Heavy rainfall amounts of 3 to 4.5 inches produced sporadic flash flooding with a few road closures. Creeks and small rivers such as the Skillet Fork rose above flood stage.
Read the full account →Training heavy rainfall developed in portions of Southern Illinois during the evening hours on the 28th, with flash flooding developing in Wayne and Saline Counties. Eldorado was hit hard for a second time with rainfall totals around 5 inches, prompting water rescues.
Read the full account →The second major severe weather outbreak for the month occurred on the 26th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a shortwave trough centered in the middle of the country with a 60 kt mid-level jet moved across northern Arkansas.
Read the full account →The remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon merged with a cold front over the mid-section of the country. The tropical moisture squeezed out by the front produced widespread heavy rainfall.
Read the full account →Major flash flooding struck parts of far southern Illinois. The hardest hit counties were Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac in the southern tip of Illinois.
Read the full account →Major flash flooding struck parts of far southern Illinois. The hardest hit counties were Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac in the southern tip of Illinois.
Read the full account →During the evening of July 20th, an MCS rode into south-central Illinois. Though the system as a whole kept pushing southeast during the evening, back-building and additional development along its northwestern edge caused it to rain constantly over Fayette County for hours.
Read the full account →The remnants from tropical system Beryl moved across northeast Illinois on July 9th. Many areas along and east of Interstate 57 received 2 to 3 inches with locally higher amounts. The highest rainfall amount reported was 3.93 inches in St. Anne in Kankakee County.
Read the full account →A major outbreak of severe weather occurred on the 8th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a longwave trough was centered across the Rockies with deep-layer southwesterly flow from the Southern Plains to the Ohio Valley.
Read the full account →Isolated thunderstorms produced funnel clouds across central Illinois during the late morning of July 25th. A narrow line of thunderstorms developed over southeast DuPage and central Cook Counties during the late morning of July 25th and continued into the early afternoon…
Read the full account →Several rivers remained above flood stage from May. On the Mississippi River, major flooding continued through the month of June. Backwater from the Mississippi kept moderate flooding going on the lowest reaches of the Ohio River as well as the Big Muddy River.
Read the full account →A large complex of thunderstorms developed in the wake of previous convection during the evening of July 19th. Locally heavy rainfall of between 3 and 5 inches occurred along and southwest of a Canton...to Decatur...to Robinson line.
Read the full account →A series of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall and widespread flooding to much of the Chicago metro area, namely the south and west suburbs and up into the city of Chicago. Several Oswego District 308 schools received water and storm damage.
Read the full account →After a very snowy winter across the upper Midwest and numerous rounds of heavy rain across the Missouri and Mississippi River basins through the spring and early summer months, the rivers rose to record levels.
Read the full account →A series of disturbances tracking along a nearly stationary frontal boundary resulted in two periods of heavy rainfall across parts of central Illinois on June 25th and June 26th.
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