Good Morning, America was in Algonquin this morning (Monday, July 24, 2017) with a live report about damaging flooding in the Midwest.

The community that straddles the border of northern Kane County and south McHenry County, has been hit with some of the worst flooding in Illinois and remains under a Flood Warning, with the river reaching a new record level 13.15 feet — 3.65 feet above flood stage. As of 7:30 a.m., the river remained at 12.8 feet.

Algonquin Tailwater location. (CREDIT: NWS Chicago)

According to the National Weather Service charts, the Algonquin Tailwater levels will be above the moderate flood level through the rest of this month — even without additional rain.

The Fox River remains closed to recreational watercraft, and a Flood Warning remains in effect for the Algonquin Tailwater and the Fox River at Montgomery until further notice.

At 8:15 a.m., the stage in Montgomery was 14.1 feet — more than a foot over the flood stage of 13.0 feet. The river will remain near 14.1 feet through the afternoon, and additional rises may be possible thereafter, the NWS said. Flooding in Montgomery affects homes on River Street near Ashland Avenue.

• Visit this NWS link for an interactive map of the flood levels.

Kane County Emergency Management Director Don Bryant reports that sandbags are available to the public at the Kane County Transportation garage, 41W011 Burlington Road, St.Charles and at various municipal locations.

To date, Kane County has deployed more than 30,000 sandbags, and the affected municipalities have distributed thousands more, Bryant said.

Fast Facts From NWS Chicago

• A classic weather pattern for redeveloping rounds of thunderstorms took hold across the Upper Midwest into the southern Great Lakes region. This pattern is often referred to as a “ring of fire” pattern. For more, see this graphic from a 2014 setup in our area.
• The main impacts were heavy rainfall causing flooding, at times very rapidly, as well as numerous cases of thunderstorm wind damage, some significant.
• It has been a wet past month for far northern Illinois. In the 30 day stretch of June 23-July 22, Rockford received 11.96 inches of rain. That’s the wettest 30-day stretch for the city since 2007 (July 27-Aug. 25, 14.39 feet).
• During July 19-23, the NWS Chicago office issued 27 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, two Tornado Warnings, two Large Flash Flood Warnings, numerous Flood Advisories, and six Special Marine Warnings for southern Lake Michigan waters.

Sunday Rainfall Roundup

Kane County led the area in total rainfall Sunday, with Aurora leading at 1.76 inches. Here are Kane County’s Top 10:

1. Aurora (Kane) — 1.76
2. Algonquin 1N (McHenry) — 1.49
3. North Aurora 2NE (Kane) — 1.21
4. Batavia (Kane) — 1.01
5. Geneva 4WSW (Kane) — 0.94
6. Elgin (Kane) — 0.90
7. Elgin 2W (Kane) — 0.78
8. Batavia 1WNW (Kane) — 0.73
9. Batavia 2WNW (Kane) — 0.70
10. Elburn (Kane) — 0.17

Forecast

Some relief is in sight for the early part of this week, as the NWS forecast calls for sunny and mostly sunny skies today and Tuesday. Thunderstorms are likely, however, on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

More Information

• Fox River Hydrograph
• National Weather Service Forecast – Algonquin, IL
• Proclamation of Disaster: July 13, 2017
• Fox Waterway Agency
• FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer
• Report Flood Damage (McHenry County Emergency Management Agency)
• Report Flood Damage (Kane County)
• Ready Illinois: Floods
• Illinois Department of Public Health: After the Flood

SOURCE: Kane County Office of Emergency Management, Village of Algonquin, National Weather Service Chicago