Flash Flood — Richland, Illinois

2018-09-08 · near Wakefield, Richland, Illinois

Event narrative

Several bands of rain associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon impacted Richland County from September 7th through the 8th. The ground was saturated with nearly 4.50 to 6.50 inches of rain when a particularly heavy band of rain moved into southeast Illinois during the afternoon of September 8th. An additional 2.00 inches of rain in less than three hours produced flash flooding in Richland County in the early afternoon. Many county roads were covered with water. Illinois Highway 250 was flooded near the Olney airport and near the high school.

Wider weather episode

Heavy rain impacted central and southeast Illinois as the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon tracked from Arkansas during the afternoon of September 7th to southern Ohio by the afternoon of September 9th. The rainfall was further enhanced by a weak cold front dropping southward out of the Upper Midwest. Rainfall was heaviest south of I-70 in closer proximity to the track of the storm, with amounts ranging from 5 to 10 inches. Another area of heavy rain materialized northwest of the Illinois River as the cold front approached, with totals of 4 to 6 inches. Due to the prolonged period of heavy rainfall, flash flooding developed mainly along and southeast of a Newton to Flora line where numerous roads were closed due to high water.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.8474, -88.2584)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 787945. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.