Officials warn of ‘life-threatening’ flash floods
Weather ‘came in so quick’ as residents, businesses evacuate
Thursday night, Michele Rubino’s son woke her up to show her security cameras capturing footage of her boutique in downtown Wilmington. The parking lot outside her shop was completely flooded, she said.
“It came in so quick. Within 40 minutes we were completely flooded,” said Rubino, who owns Mystical Boutique On Rt. 66. “They had all the emergency crews out there. They had a boat out there to do the rescue at the motel that’s kitty-corner from us.”
The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening” flash flooding in parts of Grundy and Will counties due to an ice jam on the Kankakee River, including in downtown Wilmington, where officials reported the river rising 3 feet in an hour overnight. Water rescue teams evacuated 14 people to emergency shelters as of Friday morning.
“Flooding in downtown Wilmington is currently isolated to the North and South Islands,” the Will County Emergency Management Agency said in a news release. “However, ice remains solid on the Kankakee River and water levels are steadily increasing due to water runoff and melting ice.”
The agency added that the ice jam hasn’t fully broken and there’s a potential for flooding throughout the day as the ice breaks apart at a rapid pace.
Rubino estimated that there were at least 5 inches of water in her shop at about 10 a.m. Because her store is elevated, she doesn’t think there will be much, if any, damage. But she said it’s “very hard” not knowing when the shop, which sells jewelry, candles and other handcrafted items, will be able to reopen.
“It’s (scary). We’re just hopeful that everybody stays safe, and whoever needs to close, closes to keep everybody safe right now,” the 52-year-old said.
Nearby, Tony McGann, who owns The Wine Cafe, said he met with rescue crews at about 1 a.m. and saw that the area around his downtown business was flooded. Customers at the restaurant and an employee had to evacuate last night, with water up to their calves, he said.
“It came up very quickly,” he said.
He said there’s eight steps that come up off the parking lot into the cafe. He said water reached the fifth step, so while the basement will probably be flooded, the business is safe.
“It’s kind of sad. This has happened before with the ice. It’s not an uncommon occurrence,” he said of the flooding. “Both of the parks are flooded. It’s just bad that the roads are cut off and there’s peripheral roads flooding too.”
The Will County Emergency Agency sent out an alert to residents advising them of rising water levels and the possibility of evacuating. Illinois Route 53 is also closed between 1st Street and Illinois Route 102 due to flash flooding, the agency said.
A flash flood warning is in effect until 9:15 a.m. Saturday in east central Grundy and southwestern Will Counties due to the “continued shifting and instability” of the ice jam. The weather service said a “rapid break up” of the jam is “imminent.”
Sudden shifting of the ice jam as it moves down the river could cause rapid rises of water and property along the banks, the weather service said. They expect water to rise 2 to 4 feet, moving downstream toward the mouth of the Kankakee and leading to damaged roads and structures along the river bank.
Scott Pelath, executive director of the Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission, told the Post-Tribune earlier this week that cold temperatures created deep frost in the ground that reduced the soil’s ability to retain water, which then flows more quickly into the creeks and ditches feeding the river.
“When warmer temperatures and liquid precipitation follow such conditions, the risk of ice jams increases,” a news release from the Kankakee River commission said. “They can block the normal flow of water and pose flood risks to people and property.”