Significant flooding from heavy rainfall

 

Nearly two months worth of rain came down in just two short days for some late Saturday night/Sunday morning, and then again Monday morning, pushing rainfall totals close to a foot in some spots of Stephenson County. The historic rainfall the result of an extremely moisture rich atmosphere, stalled stationary boundary and repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms. For the rest of Monday evening, skies will remain dry as cloud cover continues to clear out.

Sunset over Pearl City, IL Monday Photo: Dave Reuber

Some of the hardest hit areas in Stephenson County are centered in/around Freeport, IL. The heavy rain pushed creeks and streams out of their banks, flooding farm fields, roads and even towns. One of the hardest hit areas has been Pearl City, IL as water from Yellow Creek flooded Highway 73 cutting off the town to outside areas in some locations. One resident in town says that their rain gauge over the last two days measured 14 inches.

Pecatonica River at Freeport, IL

Even though the rain has ended the impacts from the flooding will still be felt for the next several days as the water continues to slowly recede. Through Monday evening, a rise in some of the local creeks may still be observed as runoff continues, but eventually the waters will begin to fall within their banks.

Unfortunately, that means our larger rivers will continue to rise as the creeks feed into some of the rivers in northern Illinois. The Pecatonica River at Freeport experienced a big jump in river levels from Saturday night through Sunday night, with another rise following Monday morning's rainfall. Current river level is just over 15ft and is in moderate flood stage. The river is forecast to crest sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning, however, as additional water flows into the river from runoff it is likely the river may rise a little more and could crest later in the week, and possibly at a higher river level. A FLOOD WARNING remains in effect for the Pecatonica River at Freeport until Thursday morning.

As the water continues to flow downstream, additional flooding will likely occur along the Pecatonica River as it flows through Winnebago County. A FLOOD WARNING goes into effect for the Pecatonica River at Shirland Tuesday, and will last through early next week. A big jump in the river level was experienced over the last day and a half, with another rise in the river level through Tuesday. Right now it is forecast to rise into Minor flood stage, but that could also change as additional water continues to flow into the river. Right now the river level is just over 9ft and is forecast to rise and crest around in minor flood stage, just under 14ft.