Flood — Sangamon, Illinois

2011-06-18 to 2011-06-19 · near Berlin, Sangamon, Illinois

Event narrative

The impacts of the flash flooding from the late evening of June 17th into the early morning of June 18th continued for another 20 hours in western Sangamon County. In addition, another 1.00 to 2.00 of rain fell over the flooded area from June 18th into the 19th.

During the afternoon of June 18th at 1:55 PM LST, a 75 year old man drove around a barricade into a flooded roadway on East Loami Road near the Lick Creek South Fork. He climbed to the top of the vehicle, but it was swept away by the rapid current. His truck was found in a nearby pond, but his body was not recovered until the morning of June 20th.

Many streets in Loami and New Berlin, and the rural roads and state highways in western parts of the county were flooded for almost 48 hours. The water finally receded on most roadways by early evening on June 19th.

See the Flash Flood entry for June 17th-18th for estimated damages due to this historic flooding.

Wider weather episode

A persistent frontal boundary interacting with a very moist airmass led to periods of showers and thunderstorms across central Illinois on June 19th and 20th. The additional rainfall aggravated ongoing flooding concerns across west central and southeast parts of Illinois, which also led to a levee breach on Mauvaise Terre Creek in Scott County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.7854, -89.9885)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 328634. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.