Flood — Iroquois, Illinois

2018-02-20 to 2018-02-28 · near Papineau, Iroquois, Illinois

Event narrative

Major flooding occurred along the Iroquois River. The river crested at 26.06 feet at Iroquois on February 22nd, which was the second highest crest on record. Flood stage at Iroquois is 18 feet and major stage is 25 feet. The river crested at 20.59 feet at Chebanse on February 24th, which was also the second highest crest on record. Flood stage at Chebanse is 16 feet and major stage is 20 feet.

In the city of Watseka, over 100 homes suffered some kind of water damage from the flooding. Businesses and ground floor apartments were also flooded. Numerous roads were closed. Some residents had to be rescued by boats. The emergency manager said this flooding was likely the worst the city has seen.

Wider weather episode

Very heavy rain fell across much of eastern Illinois on February 19th and February 20th which caused areal flooding across some areas and major flooding on some rivers.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.0060, -87.7873)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 743615. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.