Ike washes through Illinois

[September 15, 2008]  This time not even the National Weather Service thought they needed to hedge their prediction. The forecast showed a 100 percent chance of rain Saturday night and Sunday morning, and that is exactly what hit almost the entire state of Illinois. From Granite City to Chicago's northern suburbs, the remnants of Hurricane Ike pounded the state with heavy rains, causing flooding throughout the entire western and central part of the state.

Chicago, which had 7 inches of rain in less than 24 hours, saw streets and homes flooded that had never had seen a drop of water in their basements before, with still more rain coming.

Peoria area residents also found their streets and homes awash in Ike's precipitation, with a record rainfall of over 5 inches in less than 24 hours.

Locally the rains hit the area starting at 10 p.m. with a strong band that rained at upwards of an inch of rainfall per hour in the early Sunday hours.

Total precipitation varies from location to location, but the NWS says 5 to 8 inches hit the Logan County area from Saturday through Sunday afternoon.

By Sunday morning, Woodlawn Road was down to one lane in both directions as the outer lanes were flooded from overflowing storm drains and sewers.

This heavy rainfall came only two days after Hurricane Gustav had dropped a heavy 1.6-inch rainfall in our area.

With the ground completely saturated, runoff is expected to continue through Monday, although it is moderate in nature. At 5:35 a.m. a flash flood warning was finally lifted as creeks and streams in the area are receding.

[By MIKE FAK]