Much like the childhood rhyme asking rain to come back another day, people in the Midwest are hoping the rain will stop.
In Danville, Ellsworth Park is buried under water from flooding from the Vermilion River, closing the park for weekend activities. The water is covering the playground equipment and fields.
That flooding caused issues elsewhere as well.
Over the weekend, the flooding caused a portion of Interstate 74 to become ‘impassable’ on Saturday.
Illinois State Police Master Sergeant Nicholas Orndorff on Saturday morning stated that I-74 eastbound is being diverted onto U.S. 150 at exit 200. I-74 westbound is also being diverted to U.S. 150 at exit 210.
“Please exercise due caution and consider an alternate route if traveling in the area,” Ordorff said. “The roadway will be re-opened once conditions improve.”
This information was provided at 9:30 a.m. and by Saturday evening, the road had opened.
The villages of Catlin and Westville asked residents to conserve water.
“Our stormwater system/mains are currently overloaded,” stated the Village of Catlin online. “The system is slowly draining, but it will take time for the water levels to recede.”
They also say they are dealing with people driving through other people’s yards.
“Driving through yards causes property damage and creates additional hazards for residents,” Catlin shared.
The Village of Westville has shared that their “storm drainage system’ cannot keep up with the heavy rainfall.
“Our Public Works Department has been actively working to help keep water moving, including cleaning culverts and jetting storm drains to ensure they are flowing properly.”
They say, however, that at this time the “ground is saturated,” impacting the ability for their systems to keep up.
The Oakwood Fire Protection District is urging drivers to take alternate routes.
The Village of Tilton’s Public Works Director, T.J. George, says there are road closures in their neck of the woods as well, including Keegan Street.
“Our crews are actively on-site deploying bypass pumping to relieve backups as quickly as possible,” George shared on Saturday.
During the wet weekend mess, the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Office echoed other officials in asking people not to drive through flooded waters.
“If possible, please avoid unnecessary travel as numerous roads in our county have sections that have standing and/or running water on them,” VSCO shared. “Remember it takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away most cars, and just 2 feet of water can carry away SUVs and Trucks.”
The Vermilion County Emergency Management Agency team is also urging residents to report damage to their self-assessment tool. There is a QR code that links to the assessment on their Facebook page. You can also email ema@vercounty.org or call 217-443-6011.
“If they could fill out that [self-assessment tool], that’ll make it easier for us to figure out our greatest need, and we can get assistance through the government a little faster if we have all that stuff already taken care of,” Joel Bird with the agency added.
Across the border in Indiana, Jim Morson, the Director of the Warren County EMA says ‘things are definitely looking better today [Monday] compared to the weekend.”
“We are seeing water recede in some areas, but we’re certainly not completely out of it yet,” Morson said. “Warren County is still included in the flood warning, primarily because of the continued elevated river levels and the amount of water still working its way through the Wabash River system.”
Morson says his agency did have to conduct one water rescue.
“We’re continuing to monitor the river levels and any remaining road and drainage issues around the county,” Morson said. “Even though the rain has moved out and some of the localized flooding is improving, the river flooding lags behind everything else and takes considerably longer to work its way downstream.”
The National Weather Service has also extended the flood warning for several rivers in Illinois and Indiana once again from Monday to Tuesday afternoon.
The Vermilion River flood warning will continue until Tuesday afternoon at least. The agency says that at 9:15 a.m. Monday, the river was at 23.6 feet; the maximum the river got to in the last day was 25 feet. The river is expected to fall below flood stage, which is 18 feet, by Thursday.