Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Illinois, October 13, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Illinois, October 13, 2001
Start: 2001-10-13T15:25
End: 2001-10-13T19:45
Location: Illinois

October 13, 2001 · NWS LOT · 5 events in 4 counties and zones

Heavy rain began falling across northeast Illinois during the afternoon hours of Saturday, October 13th and continued into the evening hours. Basement and street flooding occurred in Mt.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 6
Property damage: $285,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS LOT wrote it up.

Heavy rain began falling across northeast Illinois during the afternoon hours of Saturday, October 13th and continued into the evening hours. Basement and street flooding occurred in Mt. Prospect in Cook county. In Plainfield in Will county, two subdivisions had street flooding and sandbags were needed to contain a creek near 135th Street and US 30. The worst flooding occurred across most of Dupage county. Numerous streets and major roads were flooded and closed. Some of the flooded roads included Route 53 in Wheaton where several motorists were trapped in their vehicles and had to be rescued. Hale street in Wheaton was flooded and a block of houses was under water. Many streams, creeks, and ponds filled quickly then overflowed their banks. Salt Creek flooded half of a golf course in Oak Brook. A train viaduct, several streets and basements were flooded in Lombard. Several basements and cars were flooded in Lake Forest in Lake county.Some storm total rainfall reports incude 4.75 inches in Streamwood, 4.46 inches in Naperville, 3.79 inches at Chicago Ohare Airport, 3.71 inches in Buffalo Grove, 3.56 inches in Palwaukee, 3.24 inches in Aurora, and 3.05 inches at the National Weather Service office in Romeoville.In addition to the flooding, several trees and limbs were blown down in Niles and Morton Grove in Cook county. Strong winds also broke skylight windows at Golf View Shopping Mall, where 6 people suffered minor injuries from flying debris. Cars were damaged in the mall parking lot. A tree limb fell on a 3 year old girl causing severe brain damage and she died two days later.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 13, 2:10 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 13, 2:10 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
310 PM CDT SAT OCT 13 2001

HAVE BEEN MONITORING RAINFALL PAST SEVERAL HRS.  RAINFALL RATES HAVE
BEEN AROUND 1 IN/HR SINCE AROUND 1 PM CDT...BUT ONLY REPORTS ARE OF
STANDING WATER IN FIELDS...NOT ON ROADS SO HAVE HELD OFF ON ANY
ADVSRYS ATTM.  RIVERS ARE ONLY SHOWING MINOR RESPONSES AS OF YET.
COLD FRONT SHOWS UP WELL ON RADAR IMAGERY.  FRONT APPEARS TO BE
SURGING EWD ACROSS WRN IL AT ABOUT 40 MPH.  THIS WOULD BRING THE
FRONT THROUGH RFD AND CHI AROUND 1800 AND THROUGH ERN PORTION OF FA
LATER THIS EVE.  FRONT HAS BEEN A GOOD DELINEATOR FOR THE BACK EDGE
OF HEAVIER RAIN.  THIS BOUNDARY MAY SLOW UP AS IT HEADS INTO IN THIS
EVE AS SECOND S/W OVER ERN TX EJECTS RAPIDLY NNEWD TONIGHT.  VORT
CENTRE IS FCST TO BE NR BWG BY 12Z SUN.  THIS TRACK SHOULD KEEP NRN
IL/EXTREME NWRN IN JUST TO W OF ONGOING BAND OF HEAVY RAIN.  AS IT
IS...WILL KEEP NWRN IN COUNTIES SEPARATED OUT IN ZONES TO KEEP
MENTION OF HEAVY RAIN IN FORECAST INTO TONIGHT.  ELSEWHERE...WILL
TAPER RAIN OFF TO LGT RAIN OR DRZL THIS EVE AND THEN HAVE JUST
CLOUDY SKIES GOING OVERNIGHT.    ON SUN...RAPID H5 HGT FALLS
SUGGESTED BY GUID IN REPONSE TO STG MID LEVEL COLD ADVCTN.  THIS
STEEPENS FCST LAPSE RATES SO THAT INSTABILITY SHOWERS MAY OCCUR
DURNIG THE AFTN BOTH SUN AND MON.  ON MON...SHOWERS MAY BE A LITTLE
MORE PERSISTENT AS SIG VORT MAX IS PROGGED TO DROP SEWD INTO WRN
GRTLKS RGN.  THIS WILL REPRESENT A REINFORCEMENT OF THE COLD AIR AND
MAY ALLOW SHOWERS TO CONTINUE INTO MON NGT AS TROF SWING THROUGH.
H85 TEMPS DROP TO -6 BY THIS TIME...BUT WILL HOLD OFF ON MENTION OF
SHOWERS AND MENTION OF /S-WORD/  AT THIS TIME.

.CHI...GALE WARNING LAKE MICHIGAN FOR SUNDAY.
MERZLOCK

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:44 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Du Page

When: October 13, 3:25 PM CST to 7:45 PM CST
Where: Du Page County, Countywide
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.852, -88.086 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorm Wind, Cook

When: October 13, 3:45 PM CST
Where: Cook County, Niles
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 6 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.033, -87.800

Flash Flood, Cook

When: October 13, 3:48 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Cook County, Mt Prospect
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.895, -87.646 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Will

When: October 13, 4:15 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Will County, Plainfield
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 41.445, -87.979 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Lake

When: October 13, 4:30 PM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Lake County, Lake Forest
Property damage: $180,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 42.349, -87.862 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Thunderstorm Wind, Cook	2001-10-15	3	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, October 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5270772, 5270832, 5270773, 5270774, 5270833.