Flooding of historic proportions gripped the Rockford and Belvidere areas Tuesday forcing residents from their homes and vehicles in the hardest hit locations. Those with whom we talked Tuesday characterized the latest cloudburst as potentially as bad—if not worse—than last September’s Labor Day cloudburst. That devastating flood was the area’s worst in at least 30 years.
The latest storms, which struck in Tuesday’s predawn hours, drenched Belvidere with 6.30” while saturating Rockford with 5.25”—accumulations which produced 100+ and 75-year floods in those communities respectively according to Illinois state climatologist Dr. Jim Angel. Rainfalls of 4+” extended east across a wide swath of Lake and McHenry counties, forcing road closures for a time early Tuesday.
---By Tom Skilling, WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
