Flood — Alexander, Illinois

2011-05-01 to 2011-05-31 · near Cache, Alexander, Illinois

Event narrative

Major flooding continued on the Mississippi River from April. At the Thebes river gage, the flood crest of 45.52 feet on the night of May 2 was the second highest crest on record. The record crest was 45.91 feet in May of 1995. A major levee break at Fayville resulted in flash flooding in central and northern parts of the county. Communities outside of levee protection systems, such as Olive Branch, Miller City, and Tamms, were evacuated as floodwaters inundated entire communities and cut off access roads. Many homes and businesses in those communities were sandbagged, but most of them ended up being flooded. Lower portions of the community of Thebes were inundated. The National Guard was requested to assist with sandbagging residences. A water main break caused interruptions in the drinking water supply.

Wider weather episode

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. It was not only the wettest April on record, but the wettest month ever recorded at Paducah. In May, 8.74 inches of rain fell. This was 3.99 inches above normal for the month. Paducah had the wettest meteorological spring (March through May) period on record with 31.21 inches. This was 63 percent of the normal for an entire year. At Evansville, April was the second wettest April on record with 11.77 inches. For the season, Evansville had the second wettest meteorological spring with 25.01 inches. The result of all this rain was rapid and dramatic rises on rivers. Record flood crests occurred on some rivers, inundating numerous homes and businesses. There were major impacts to transportation both on land and water. There were numerous closed roads across the region, leading to often lengthy detours. Because of the high water, there were numerous day and nighttime restrictions to barge traffic. Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland were flooded. Crops were late getting planted.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0968, -89.2571)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 307364. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.