Champaign County engineer: ‘It’s definitely a lot of water we are dealing with.’

Flooding in Champaign County has caused road closures and home evacuations as the rain continues to fall.

Stephen McCall, Champaign County engineer, said the county is currently above the normal amount of rainfall for the season.

“The National Weather Service says we are looking at the fourth wettest 90-day streak we have ever had,” McCall said. “So we have had this happen before, but it’s definitely a lot of water we are dealing with.”

High water forced dozens of people out of their homes in Urbana, as Settlers Ridge Apartments, located at 941 W. State Route 29 experienced flooding on Monday morning. Apartments on the first floor of the building experienced about 10 inches of water, building officials said.

PHOTOS: Flooding in Champaign County

“We have mold everywhere. I have brand new furniture that’s ruined,” said Settlers Ridge Apartments’ resident, Roxanne Gillenwater. “We threw away three dressers, my bookshelf and a ton of clothes.”

Another Settlers Ridge resident, Heather Mattox, said the building flooded just last week, and has seen constant flooding since 2003.

“Everybody knows and they’re not doing nothing,” Mattox said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Despite most of the building being surrounded by water at one point, Champaign County dispatchers said Monday afternoon that everyone in the complex had been accounted for and no injuries had been reported.

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Several roads were also shut down in Champaign County due to high water. Roads included the 3000 block of Millerstown Road, Millerstown-Eris Road, Church Road and the 3600 block of West State Route 29 near Urbana, according to Champaign County dispatchers.

Logan County also suffered from road closures, as County Road 62 and County Road 28 were impassable due to high water. The county also had two bridge closures, however, Todd Bumgardner, Logan County Engineer’s Office Administrative Coordinator, said they would reopen by Tuesday morning.

“A majority of the road closures this season have been because of debris,” Bumgardner said. “So we have just been focused getting branches, sticks, stuff like that cleaned up and off the roadways.”

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Bumgardner said the county was already above average for rainfall when storms came through the area last weekend.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected again to continue throughout the week. A threat of severe whether may be low on Tuesday, but heavy rain may lead to additional flood in area like Champaign and Logan that have been saturated by days of rain, according to StormCenter 7 Meteorologist McCall Vrydaghs.

Due to a forecast of additional rain, a flash flood watch remains in effect in Logan and Champaign counties until 2 p.m. Tuesday, and in Clark County until 8 p.m. on Tuesday.


At least 12: People forced from their apartment complex in Urbana due to flooding

At least 4: Roads closed in Champaign County

4th: Wettest 90-day streak in Champaign County

0: Injures, as of Monday afternoon, as a result of rising waters

The Springfield News-Sun is committed to covering severe weather in Clark and Champaign county.

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