Flash Flood — Lee, Illinois

2025-08-18 · near Paw Paw, Lee, Illinois

Event narrative

A couple of rounds of torrential rainfall brought flash flooding to parts of southeast Lee County. A video shared to social media showed a house in the Paw Paw area surrounded by floodwater with significant flooding in the yard and in nearby fields. Paw Paw Rd was flooded approximately one mile north of Paw Paw. In Compton, water was seen flowing over roads and parking lots. A private weather station in Paw Paw recorded 7.02 of storm total rain, 5.03 of which fell between 3:15 and 5:15 CST. Another private weather station near Dunn Airport northwest of Paw Paw recorded 4.67 of storm total rainfall. The flooding is estimated to have resulted in $5,000 worth of damages, mostly to crops.

Wider weather episode

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. Initial reports estimate $8.8 million in flood damages around northern and northeast Illinois, and around $2.5 million in the city of Chicago alone.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.6756, -88.9488)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1288626. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.