Flood — Jasper, Illinois

2017-05-11 · near Latona, Jasper, Illinois

Event narrative

The third heavy rain event to occur in less than two weeks resulted in rapid flash flooding in southern Jasper County. Rainfall amounts ranged from 1.75 to 2.50 inches during the late evening of May 10th in areas where ditches were already full of water and soils were saturated. Numerous rural roads were closed near Bogota, Sainte Marie, and West Liberty, and water covered parts of Illinois Route 130 between Newton and West Liberty. An additional 0.50 to 0.75 inch of rain during the early morning hours of May 11th kept flood waters from receding until early in the afternoon.

Wider weather episode

A cluster of strong to severe thunderstorms developed in advance of an area of low pressure across southeast Iowa during the afternoon of May 10th. The storms then developed into a squall line and raced east-southeast along a warm front draped across central Illinois during the late afternoon and early evening. One tornado touched down along the line just south of Argenta in Macon County, while widespread wind damage was reported primarily along and south of I-72. Heavy rainfall of 1.5 to 2.5 inches aggravated ongoing flooding across southeast Illinois, where numerous roads were closed due to high water south of I-70.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.9887, -88.3637)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 704693. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.