Flood in Douglas County, Illinois

An extended period of heavy rain during the late evening of December 26th in Douglas County combined with an already saturated ground to produce flash flooding. Rainfall amounts ranged from 4.00 to 4.25 inches in less than six hours. Most rural roads and state highways were flooded and impassable. Tuscola, Arcola, Villa Grove and Newman were the most impacted with severely flooded streets and basements. The flooding continued through all of December 27th. Additional rainfall of 1.50 to 2.75 from December 28th into the 29th aggravated the flooding situation significantly. More than 120 buildings and homes were damaged in various locations across the county, 23 of which sustained major flood damage. Every rural road and most state highways and city streets were flooded for nearly four days. The flood water finally subsided by the afternoon of December 31st.

A multi-faceted storm system brought several periods of heavy rain to central and southeast Illinois from December 26th through 28th. The system began to spread rain into the region from the southwest during the early morning hours of Saturday, December 26th, with the rain continuing into Saturday night. By the morning of Sunday, December 27th, widespread 2 to 5-inch totals were reported southeast of a Jacksonville to Rantoul line. This amount of rain falling on saturated soils from recent wet conditions produced widespread flash flooding and fast rises on creeks and streams. After a lull in the rainfall for much of Sunday, another round of rain moved in from the south from Sunday night through the afternoon of Monday, December 28th. Heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches were common across the entire area from this portion of the event, further aggravating existing flooding conditions. Once the flash flooding subsided, ongoing areal flooding persisted through December 31st...with river flooding continuing well into January 2016. Many rivers climbed to major flood stage as a result of the excessive rainfall. The flooding situation was made even worse by levee breaches, including one along the Embarras River near the Jasper-Crawford County line. Four people died as a result of this major flooding event across central Illinois. All four died when their vehicles were swept away by high water in Christian County early in the morning of December 29th.