Flash Flood in Illinois, May 20 to 21, 1996

Thunderstorms dumped between 1 and 3 inches of rain during the night of May 19th and early morning of May 20th. This rain caused street and viaduct flooding. More thunderstorms dumped heavy rain the afternoon and evening of the 20th. In Lincolnshire, overflowing retention ponds near the Stevenson High School caused water to back up into the High School resulting in an estimated $300,000 worth of damage. Numerous sections of roads in Lake and McHenry counties were affected by flooding. Lake Forest Illinois experienced its worst flooding in 8 to 10 years according to the supervisor of water and sewers. The Skokie River at Lake Forest experienced a flood with a 50 year recurrence interval. The runoff from the preceding 48 hours was causing significant rises on streams in the area. During the afternoon of the 20th a retention pond in Tullamor subdivision north of Mundelein High School overflowed. Six of eighteen homes in the Sturm subdivision near Barrington west of Route 12 and north of Quentin Road were abandoned due to flooding from an overflowing retention pond. An overflowing retention reservoir spilled into Buffalo Creek and resulted in flooding along the creek downstream in Meadowbrook, and Wheeling. Residents in some 150 homes in Wheeling along Buffalo Creek were awakened around 2am CDT May 21st and asked to evacuate as creek levels continued to rise. The flooding from Buffalo Creek and backwater from the Des Plaines River forced the closure of 2 of the 3 runways at Palwaukee Airport. About 40 homes were actually affected by Buffalo Creek floodwaters and at least 49 residents spent the evening in a Red Cross Shelter set up in Wheeling. Flood waters from the rising Des Plaines River was rapidly approaching homes in the North Libertyville estates subdivision south of Gurnee.