Major flooding along Des Plaines, DuPage, Fox rivers
Residents across the suburbs spent Monday bailing out basements and navigating around impassable roads after a wet weekend overwhelmed local waterways and challenged flood prevention systems.
But aside from a chance of rain early Tuesday, the National Weather Service's forecast calls for a warmer and much drier week ahead.
On Monday, every Chicago-area river monitored by NWS was under some advisement stemming from rains that pelted the region on and off for days, officials said. The areas where rivers have yet to crest are expected to do so Tuesday or Wednesday.
While most areas were at moderate or minor flood stages Monday, the Des Plaines River was at major flood stage near Lincolnshire and Des Plaines, according to meteorologist Brian Leatherwood.
In Des Plaines, flash flooding left some roads impassable last weekend and into Monday, officials said.
"We got an awful lot of rain in a short amount of time," Des Plaines police officer Mike Heidkamp said.
Leatherwood said a large swath from central Cook County south through Will County and beyond received about 5 to 6 inches of rain Sunday. Elsewhere, rain totals were as low as 1 to 2 inches, Leatherwood said.
Elk Grove Village has seen around 8 inches of rain since Thursday and flash flooding Sunday, which Mayor Craig Johnson called the biggest test of the Busse Woods dam.
"What I'm happy about is that dam did exactly what it was supposed to do," Johnson said. "We definitely would have had more devastation than we did."
May rainfall totals set a record in 2018 that was broken a year later, he said, and that record is being threatened again this year.
To the south, low-lying areas in Lisle were hit hard, with residents in three residential buildings on St. Joseph Creek Road evacuated because of flooding. The Red Cross is assisting families with placement in nearby hotels, Assistant Village Manager Jack Knight said.
Three roads remained closed in Lisle by midday Monday, including Burlington Avenue from Route 53 to the DuPage River, where DuPage County crews were helping pump out water and several yards were flooded.
Much of Lisle Community Park, a designated floodwater retention area, were underwater, with Short Street through the park and Riverview Drive on the park's east side both closed.
The Riverwalk in downtown Naperville also flooded as the West Branch of the DuPage River rose with Sunday's soaking rains. Standing water was reported Sunday on parts of Ogden Avenue and Monday in northbound lanes of Naper Boulevard between 75th Street and Hobson Road.
The city made sandbags available Saturday and alerted residents that flooding could occur in downtown and downstream areas.
Officials also advised boaters to stay off the river after firefighters rescued three people on two occasions Friday.
The Lake County Stormwater Management Commission said between 3.7 and 8 inches of rain fell in the past eight days, including as much as 3.1 inches Sunday. Water levels along the Fox and Des Plaines rivers were rising because rain in Wisconsin was moving downstream.
In Lincolnshire, the Des Plaines River was at 15.73 feet Monday but village officials said that because water levels appeared to have stabilized, no evacuations will be ordered.
The river was at moderate flood stage in Gurnee and is expected to crest at 10.5 feet - 6 inches short of a major flood stage - but village officials anticipate it will crest lower because of the forecast.
The Fox Waterway Agency of Lake and McHenry Counties reported flooding led to a debris advisory and no-wake restriction on the Chain O' Lakes, and closure of the upper and lower Fox River because of hazardous conditions, according to the agency's website.
The Fox River in Elgin is very high and will remain high for a few days, city spokeswoman Molly Gillespie said.
Walton Island is almost completely underwater and about a third of the grass field at Festival Park is flooded. Other flooded areas include some riverfront yards along Wellington Avenue and property near Grand Victoria Casino downtown.
Several streets are closed due to flooding, such as in Elgin's Poplar Creek neighborhood, she said. The pedestrian bridges to Walton Island and the Fox River Trail under the Chicago Street and Highland Avenue bridges are closed, she said.
In downtown St. Charles, the Illinois Street Bridge and the Indiana Pedestrian Bridge were closed last weekend due to elevated Fox River levels. The riverwalk and other nearby pathways also will remain closed until water levels recede, Public Works Director Peter Suhr said.
• Daily Herald reporters Eric Peterson, Elena Ferrarin, Lauren Rohr and Marie Wilson contributed to this report.