Last week’s record deluge in Illinois and other Midwestern states sent crests in the Des Plaines and Fox rivers, along with several others, to record heights.
Gov Pat Quinn declared 41 counties disaster areas, and many schools were closed last week, the Naperville Sun reported.
A complete list of flood warnings and watches from the National Weather Service can be found here.
The DuPage River crested so high above its median value over the past 19 years that a team from the US Geological Survey had to personally measure the height of the river at Shorewood. Their measurement is indicated by the red asterisk in the graph below:
Let the cleanup begin
Crews will begin assessing damages soon, now that most rivers have crested, but most experts expect damages for the state to exceed the threshold of $17.6 million that will allow taxing entities to qualify for federal assistance, the Daily Herald reported.
