Flash flood watch issued for most of suburbs

Drenching rainfall resulted in the National Weather Service issuing a flash flood watch for portions of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties Saturday afternoon.

In addition, a flood warning was issued for parts of DuPage County after up to 5 inches of rain was dumped on the area Saturday.

The NWS said the West Branch of the DuPage River near Warrenville was expected to exceed the flood stage of 11.5 feet early Sunday and continue to rise to nearly 12.8 feet.

Police have shut down several Naperville roads because of high standing water. The affected streets include: Julian Street between Porter and Prairie Avenues; Prairie Avenue between Columbia and Julian Streets; North Aurora at the via duct; Fifth Avenue just west of Mill Street; Bunker Circle at Country Lakes Drive; Royal St. George at Burning Tree; Olesen south of Whirlaway; Fairway at Inland Circle; Naper Boulevard just north of 75th Street; and Washington at Iroquois. Residents are asked to stay away from these areas until the water subsides. according to a NaperNotify alert.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Chicago Police have taped off several entryways to the city's riverwalk between Franklin Street east to the lake in response to the rising waters spilling over and flooding the walkway.

The high river levels also prompted Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruises to cancel their remaining tours for the day, according to a post on the Chicago's First Lady Cruises' Facebook page Saturday.

In Will County, there was a flood warning for the East Branch of the DuPage River in Bolingbrook. The river exceeded the flood stage of 19.5 and was expected to continue to rise to nearly 22.6 feet by Sunday afternoon, officials said.

Several suburban high school sporting events were postponed to Sunday, Monday or later.

DuPage County Stormwater Management was operating its largest facilities - the Elmhurst Quarry Flood Control and Spring Creek Reservoir in Bloomingdale - on Salt Creek. Several of the county's smaller gravity-operated facilities also were in operation.

With an additional 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rainfall expected through early Sunday, DuPage officials said they were anticipating the county's remaining facilities, including the Wood Dale-Itasca Reservoir, Armstrong Park Reservoirs in Carol Stream and Fawell Dam in Naperville, to go into operation Saturday night.

DuPage officials said they were monitoring stream elevations. They are advising that the rainfall may cause localized and flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas.

Of the 16 flood control facilities DuPage operates, five larger facilities have mechanical equipment allowing staff to control them according to a predetermined operating plan. The other facilities protect surrounding areas from flooding without human intervention using fixed weirs and natural drainage systems.

In total, the facilities have a floodwater storage capacity of nearly 4 billion gallons, officials said.