One of the many road closures from the record spring
flooding last month in Peoria, IL
They say April showers bring May flowers. Well, that very well may have been true this spring as April was a very wet month across much of the Midwest and especially Illinois seen here. It had been an already wet start to the spring before the main event occurred. Record heavy rainfall occurred as a slow moving storm system provided amazing rainfall amounts in a 24hr. period across much of northern and central Illinois on April 17-18th seen here. The culprit for this record event ended up being a stationary frontal boundary that stretched across central Illinois. Training of thunderstorms along and north of the boundary over the same areas allowed major flooding to occur. Here's a radar loop of the entire event. Of course this much rain in a 24hr. period created major flooding problems across the state. Roads impassible or washed away, mudslides, creeks and rivers over their banks, and even later record flooding along the Illinois River in Peoria, IL and many other locations. I spent a couple days shooting some photos of the flooding in the surrounding-area in Stark and Peoria counties. The Spoon River I also photographed at its crest shortly after the rain ended as it empties downstream into the Illinois River. I've added photos of the major flooding below:
That's a lot of water in their front yard!
Farm fields turning into ponds...
More flooding at a local cemetery...
We had a little too much rain to say the least!
Kickapoo Creek along U.S. 150 over its banks...
Another view...
One of the many road closures across much
of Illinois during and after the event!
Kind of creepy lookin' in this cemetery...
More flooding...
A muddy mess after the storm!
"Where we're going, we don't need roads"
Playing around with reflections...
Another reflection here...
Tree damage from the severe thunderstorms!
One of the many flooded farm fields
throughout much of Illinois!
A flooded landscape amidst the stormy skies...
I'm sure their basement was flooded...
Creeks couldn't handle this torrential rainfall as well!
A cool perspective of a flooded farm field...
Sinkhole (left) and a mudslide (center) along this highway!
Mudslides can happen in Illinois contrary
to what many may believe...
Someone's driveway...not so much now!
You wouldn't think you would wake up one morning and
see your driveway swept away...
Rain gauge back home in Kewanee, IL
Spoon River well out of its banks!
Your can barely recognize this farm field
after the major flooding...
Floodwater's along the Spoon River...
Flooding heading downstream to my south!
Another perspective of the Spoon River...
Lots of debris left behind as the flood-waters move downstream!
It looks like a tsunami went through this farm field with
all the debris that was being pushed downstream...
A cool shot along the Spoon River with the
river in the background!
Another road washed away from the flooding...
A "Turn around, don't drown!" kind of shot...
Power lines are not supposed to be in this river...
A willow tree standing amidst the flooding!
That wraps up this post. The weather pattern looks pretty pathetic for any significant severe weather for early-May despite what climatology would tell you. I expect I'll be enjoying the outdoors for the time-being until we get more active in terms of severe weather. At this point, I'm thinking of a two-week trip in June this year (a little later than previous years). Hopefully, it'll be active by then. We can all hope...
