Flood — Crawford, Illinois

2017-05-07 to 2017-05-08 · near Pierceburg, Crawford, Illinois

Event narrative

The Green Brier Levee on the Embarras River in rural southwest Crawford County was breached in three locations during the afternoon of May 6th. Several rural roads along the river, between Green Brier and Landes were closed due to the flash flooding caused by the levee breach. Flooding of the rural roads continued through the afternoon of May 7th as the water slowly receded. The flood waters finally receded, allowing roads to be re-opened, by the early afternoon of May 8th.

Wider weather episode

Due to 6-day rainfall amounts of 5 to 7 inches, the Embarras River spilled out of its banks in many locations across Jasper and Crawford Counties. The river crested in moderate flood stage at 25.56 feet at Ste. Marie in Jasper County and at 21.3 feet at Oblong in Crawford County on May 6th. During this period of very high river levels, the Green Brier Levee located about 6 miles south of Oblong in southwest Crawford County was overtopped in 3 locations during the afternoon of May 6th. As a result, surrounding farmland and several rural roads were flooded. The flooding gradually subsided by the afternoon of May 8th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.8850, -87.9455)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 697062. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.