2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
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 →The Big Muddy River reached a near record level of 37.7 feet at Murphysboro on May 2. Flood stage is 16 feet. About 10 homes in Murphysboro were evacuated. Considerable damage occurred to a few houses and their contents.
Read the full account →In Jackson County, sheriff's deputies used a johnboat to help evacuate a family whose house became surrounded by water. In Williamson County, several roads were closed by high water, including Old Route 13 near Route 148.
Read the full account →The active June weather pattern continued through July, bringing fronts that moved in and near the regional river basins. After having the wettest June on record, the state of Illinois experienced a very wet July.
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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →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 →Strong thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall trained across the area for several hours. Some NWS cooperative observer reports include Clay City, 6.00 inches; Olney, 4.17 inches; and Lawrenceville with 3.57 inches. This heavy rainfall occurred within 4 hours.
Read the full account →Very heavy rainfall around 5 inches in 24 hours caused extensive flooding, especially in and near Omaha. No residential areas were evacuated, but the post office, civic center, and four businesses had water in them.
Read the full account →Surface low pressure was drifting across the Quad State on the 14th. Showers and thunderstorms popped up in the afternoon to evening hours with the strongest storm in Southern Illinois moving through Marion, producing damage to vinyl fencing and minor street flooding.
Read the full account →An area of strong to severe thunderstorms with very heavy rain moved across east central Illinois during the afternoon and evening hours of the 6th. Several storms produced wind damage and one storm produced a tornado that passed through the town of Lerna in Coles County.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in early May, culminating in the May 8th severe weather and flooding event, resulted in rising river levels on the Lower Ohio, Big Muddy, and Mississippi Rivers, with Thebes returning to minor flood and Murphysboro, Olmsted, and Cairo reaching flood stage shortly…
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in early May, culminating in the May 8th severe weather and flooding event, resulted in rising river levels on the Lower Ohio, Big Muddy, and Mississippi Rivers, with Thebes returning to minor flood and Murphysboro, Olmsted, and Cairo reaching flood stage shortly…
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in early May, culminating in the May 8th severe weather and flooding event, resulted in rising river levels on the Lower Ohio, Big Muddy, and Mississippi Rivers, with Thebes returning to minor flood and Murphysboro, Olmsted, and Cairo reaching flood stage shortly…
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in early May, culminating in the May 8th severe weather and flooding event, resulted in rising river levels on the Lower Ohio, Big Muddy, and Mississippi Rivers, with Thebes returning to minor flood and Murphysboro, Olmsted, and Cairo reaching flood stage shortly…
Read the full account →The weather pattern began to quiet down after the historic spring river flooding. With high pressure generally in control of the weather, the first half of June was very warm and dry.
Read the full account →The Mississippi River remained above flood stage from late February well into March at Thebes. The river crested about 6 feet above flood stage at Thebes on March 3, then a couple feet over flood stage on the 17th.
Read the full account →A weak trough of low pressure triggered a few clusters of thunderstorms across central and southeast Illinois during the afternoon and evening of August 4th.
Read the full account →A shortwave trough and closed low reached the Quad State from the northwest during the morning of the 4th. The arrival of the shortwave preceded peak heating by several hours, limiting convective potential. Shear was very weak and instability limited.
Read the full account →Heavy rains during the fourth week of July resulted in the Rock River at Joslin going above the moderate flood stage level of 14 feet around 8 pm CDT July 25. It crested around 17.4 feet around 7 pm CDT July 27.
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