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Flooded Watseka institutes one-week curfew, Quincy declares state of emergency

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Illinois

The City of Watseka has declared a Local Disaster Emergency effective today. The declaration is based on “flooding of homes, businesses and infrastructure. Residents have been displaced and businesses forced to close due to flooding. The declaration shall remain in effect until July 20, 2015 unless sooner rescinded.

Access to Watseka is restricted to the East and South. Several streets in town have been closed and the West Junction of Rts 1 and 24 is closed. Detours around Watseka have been set up by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

A shelter operated by the Red Cross has been set up at Trinity Church on the East side of Watseka. Anyone needing evacuation and or rescue should call 911. The Watseka Fire Department is the Incident Command and is conducting all evacuations and rescue. Anyone evacuating by any other means is asked to call 815-432-2711 an leave their name, address and where they have evacuated to. This is to prevent looking for those who need assistance and have already evacuated.

We request that everyone please observe the road closed signs and barricaded streets and not drive around them. This prevents possible damage to foundations of homes in the flood waters. Anyone observed driving around barricades will be subject to arrest.

Sand bags area available at City Hall for those in need of them. They are limited to 50 per household and you must fill and get them yourself.

More rain is in the forecast for the upcoming week. It is not known when flood waters are expected to recede.

All City departments are operating 24/7 for the duration of this event.

At this time volunteers are not needed as the City departments are able to handle the emergency.

Finally, the city is instituting a curfew effective July 13, 2015 until July 20, 2015 from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. daily. Please observe this curfew.

Wow.

* And…

The mayor of Quincy says his city will remain under a state of emergency for the time being after it was struck by a strong thunderstorm.

Mayor Kyle Moore said Tuesday that the main streets in Quincy are blocked with fallen trees and live wires. He says those streets should be passable by Wednesday morning and neighborhood streets later in the week.

A powerful thunderstorm with winds as high as 70 mph tore through the Quincy area Monday night damaging homes and knocking out power to tens of thousands in Adams County.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 9:52 am

Comments

This is where it gets real, folks.

Is the state in position to do its job in these emergencies? Or are the politicians too busy playing chicken?

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 9:57 am
I know Quincy got hit hard last night. I have seen pictures from friends there with trees uprooted and smashed into homes making them uninhabitable…

Comment by LINK Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:01 am
I wonder how folks there feel about yhe idea that crisis creates leverage …

Comment by The Way I See It Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:01 am
Quincy still has about 20,000 without power too. Red Cross has set up a shelter. Feel horrible for those folks with no AC in this heat.

Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:17 am
I have friends and relatives in Quincy. I’m pretty certain that industrious community will be handle this crisis with their usual pluck.

Great community. Great people.

Comment by Downstate Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:19 am
My mom lives in Quincy. Not able to get through via phone. Concerned.

Comment by Frenchie Mendoza Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:28 am
Frenchie, email me.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:30 am
Not surprised about Watseka. They had some flooding problems when I went through there 2 weeks ago.

Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:35 am
Nope, no reason to sign the one-month approp that would fund IEMA.

Comment by SAP Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:39 am
Rich — Thank you!

Finally got through. My mom is fine. Big maple tree got uprooted — but otherwise A-Ok. Apparently, power will be restored by 10pm tonight for most folks without it in Quincy. And lots and lots of tree damage.

Comment by Frenchie Mendoza Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:42 am
From past disasters, I remember reading that cell phone service quickly gets overloaded. The best method to communicate is via text (if that’s possible), because of the little amount of bandwidth it uses.

Comment by Downstate Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 10:43 am
Have a home in Watseka and have had to beg friends to check it once in a while since we are away. Back in late June I took video of the Iroquois River flooding the nearby farm land, each day was progressively worse. We left Saturday night so we missed the big deluge.

Comment by Cable Line Beer Gardener Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 11:35 am
A limit of 50 sandbags?

Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 6:55 pm
I sincerely hope that all facing these challenges receive every help and support needed to get through this crisis.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 7:17 pm
Is there any money for a state of emergency since there is no budget?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 14, 15 @ 8:10 pm