Flood — Mason, Illinois

2013-04-18 to 2013-04-30 · near Havana, Mason, Illinois

Event narrative

Hundreds of cabins and sheds in wildlife areas along the Illinois River were severely damaged. In addition, 25 homes and several other structures were damaged near Bath, Snicarte, Havana and Goofy Ridge. Nearly 15 miles of roads will need to be rebuilt due to the flooding. The river stage at Havana climbed to a record level of 27.78 feet on April 25th at 19:15 local time, which was nearly 14 feet above flood stage. High impact flooding continued into the month of May 2013.

Wider weather episode

Excessive rainfall during the middle of April led to widespread flooding across a large part of northern and central Illinois. Locations from the Chicago metro area, southwest along the Illinois River Valley, received 5 to 10 inches over a two day period from the 17-18th. This heavy rain event combined with moisture laden soils from moderate to heavy rain between April 10th and the 16th, and resulted in record flooding along the Illinois and Spoon Rivers in central Illinois.

The record flooding did significant damage to locations along and near the river banks. Every county along the Illinois River was declared a state and federal disaster area.

High impact flooding on the Illinois River continued into the month of May 2013.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.2971, -90.0649)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 449394. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.