* This flooding is getting real…
With urgent flooding situations along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, Governor JB Pritzker has activated approximately 200 Illinois National Guard soldiers for State Active Duty to assist with the state’s flood fight operations and urged all residents in affected communities to listen to the directions of first responders.
“As we face historic weather in this state, the safety of our communities will always be my top priority, and every relevant state agency is working in concert to protect communities,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This morning, I activated the two hundred members of the Illinois National Guard to regions along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to assist in sandbagging operations and levee monitoring and reinforcement, with another 200 on standby. We have deployed more than two million sandbags, hosted multi-agency resources centers in impacted communities, and I issued a disaster declaration impacting 34 counties. My administration will continue using every tool at our disposal to protect impacted Illinoisans.”
Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 123 Field Artillery Regiment were notified of the activation last night (Wednesday) and began reporting to their units in Milan, Galesburg and Springfield today (Thursday). The soldiers will help strengthen levees and construct protective barriers in flooded areas. The soldiers will be ready to deploy to affected areas by tomorrow (Friday). In addition, Governor Pritzker is activating a small team of Illinois National Guard planners to augment the Illinois Emergency Management Agency staff.
“The Illinois National Guard is a community-based organization, and when our communities need help we answer the call. As they do to answer they do when they deploy to fight their nations wars, they are leaving families and jobs behind to help their fellow citizens,” said Brig. Gen. Richard Neely, The Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard. “These guardsmen will assist the residents of impacted areas and help protect the communities from further damage.”
Alicia Tate-Nadeau, acting director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said she has been in contact with National Guard leaders throughout the state’s flood response. “The National Guard is an important part of the overall state emergency response team. As a retired National Guard general, I’m well aware of the great capability that the Guard brings to the fight. They are professionals in both their state and federal military missions.”
“The Illinois Department of Transportation takes great pride is assisting communities during natural disasters,” said Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “By mobilizing the National Guard, the governor is helping to ensure residents get the relief they need during this critical time, and IDOT is ready to ensure that critical infrastructure is protected and safe for travel.”
* More…
IEMA has also told residents in several counties to prepare for potential evacuation.
*** UPDATE *** Whoa…
A Chicago alderman is calling on the governor to provide cash to save the city’s shoreline as Lake Michigan’s water levels rise to record highs.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, acknowledged the severity of the problem. He’s calling on Gov. JB Pritzker for the money needed to save Chicago’s shoreline.
“Right now we are in crisis mode,” he said.
Rogers park resident Tom Heineman is watching this shoreline dissolve more every day. The water level this year is the highest he’s seen since the 80s.
“There used to be a beach that went out a good 20 yards,” Heineman said. “The lake is so high that with the northeasterly storms this is what it did.”
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:02 am:
Good to see their own it now, rather than just showing up in their waders for photo ops later.
- lakeside - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:06 am:
Wow - a third of counties under disaster declaration. Glad to see them taking proactive action.
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:07 am:
Wondered about this:
–Tahman Bradley@tahmanbradley
Department of Agriculture says this is a weather disaster. Only 35 percent of corn crop has been planted, a historic low.–
Could that mean the old saw — “knee high by the Fourth of July,” — might actually be in play in some places this year?
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:08 am:
Maybe a 50 foot river south of St. Louis over the next few days (if so higher than 1993).
Highway 54 to Missouri is closed again. The Illinois river has been pushing record levels for weeks. If something breaks now it could really be something. Those levees are holding for now but they are water logged and stressed like no other time in history.
This is a disaster with a long tail. And that’s not even including the record slow pace that farmers are on to plant the 2019 crop.
- Nick Name - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:08 am:
A governor governing. Good to see.
- Henry Francis - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:20 am:
Maybe it is just me, but the image of a governor, making an official statement on important governing, looks much better when the governor is dressed in professional attire.
- Stones - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:22 am:
I’ve been talking with friends near Quincy and the river at that point is reaching record levels. I’m hearing it’s about a 18″ or so under the all time record. Scary stuff!
- Pundent - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:29 am:
Definitely an improved response from what we’ve seen in the past. But we need to stop referring to these as “historic” weather events. They’re weather events and they’re getting worse. And doing nothing is no longer an option.
- PublicServant - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:47 am:
It’s good to see fellow Illinoisans helping each other without resorting to “What’s in it for me?”, or “They should have known better?”, or the good old “Thoughts and Prayers” phrase that’s so common nowadays.
- PublicServant - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:48 am:
Rich, might it be time for a GoFundMe to help pay for the cleanup efforts?
- efudd - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 10:54 am:
Western Union county basically meets the standard for marshland now. There are fields with water so deep it’s whitecapping. This issue has become more than a generational thing. Some of these areas are permanently impacted do to climate change.
- SOIL M - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:07 am:
IEMA response over the last few months has been a great improvement over past responses. They have taken a more proactive approach than previously seen, and requests for resources is moving much quicker. This is mainly due to less resistance in Springfield. I cant speak on all of the Regional Coordinators, but the ones I have seen, even though they have their hands full, are very willing to do what they can to get resources to the locals when and where they are needed and are great help. As we are now into 5 months of flood fighting activities and have had no issues acquiring resources the improvements made in Springfield are really appreciated, and has allowed local EMA’s to prepare for what ahead instead of struggling to keep up.
- SOIL M - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:23 am:
To the update–I can understand his concern for his beach, but as many counties have been struggling to keep water out of homes, businesses, and protect farmland, is a beach our main area of where the funds are needed?
In my opinion anyway, there are bigger needs to be met first.
- lakeside - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:31 am:
I was walking under Lake Shore Drive viaduct by Diversey Harbor on Monday. The water was basically level with the sidewalk.
Which is also to say, SOIL - I hope the purpose of the beach story is to point to high water levels, which can contribute to sewer back ups, flooding, etc. in the city. It just won’t stop raining. But totally agreed that the loss of beach, per se, isn’t the issue here.
- JS Mill - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:35 am:
=Could that mean the old saw — “knee high by the Fourth of July,” — might actually be in play in some places this year?=
And a lot of the 35% is underwater right now. Only 14% of soybeans in. Tough season.
- RNUG - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:46 am:
== Could that mean the old saw — “knee high by the Fourth of July,” — might actually be in play in some places this year? ==
Some farmer friends here in central Illinois have switched to a hybrid with a shorter growing season. They managed to get part of their corn in this past week. It will affect yield, but they should have some crop this fall.
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 12:03 pm:
Lake Michigan was at a record low in 2013.
I can’t find it on the google, but perhaps someone knows: When it rains so much as it has lately, doesn’t the City of Chicago open the locks and let the river flow naturally into the lake? Once it calms down, they reverse and let it flow Downstate again?
https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/lake-michigan-approaching-record-water-levels/2034309469
- lake county democrat - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 12:21 pm:
The Mississippi could be next - downtown Davenport Iowa has severe flooding and the river looked awfuly high on a recent drive down US-61 in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
- Mason born - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 12:43 pm:
Wordslinger
If it continues much longer most growers will switch to soybeans which have a shorter growing season. Of course if enough farmers grow beans it’ll slam the price due to over supply (we’ll ignore the foreign market fiasco for now). There are 90 day corn hybrids that could go in & some will use them most seem to be planning on beans.
- oh? - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 1:17 pm:
That whooshing sound is Chicago money going to bail out rural Illinois. Should dampen the enthusiasm for jettisoning Chicago til dry season.
- CT Resident - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:15 pm:
-I can’t find it on the google, but perhaps someone knows: When it rains so much as it has lately, doesn’t the City of Chicago open the locks and let the river flow naturally into the lake? Once it calms down, they reverse and let it flow Downstate again?-
Yes, tech the MWRD or the Army Corp or Engineers would make a decision to open the locks to release the River water into the lake, but that could only happen if the River is higher than the Lake.
- Just Me 2 - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:16 pm:
The impact on the state’s agricultural industry was on the top of my mind as well. When I was driving home for Mother’s Day all the fields appeared soaking wet and seedless. Can farmers really pick a different crop this late in the season? Don’t they have their seeds on-site already?
(Not trying to be snarky; I really don’t know.)
- CT Resident - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:21 pm:
And at present, the Lake is about 3 ft above the River.
- Huh? - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:25 pm:
CT - years ago opening the locks was what was done to alleviate flooding. Now, MWRD has the Deep Tunnel and reservoir system to handle the overflowing sewer systems. Once the storm event is over, MWRD treats the storm water and releases it into the river.
I think the only time MWRD would open the locks is if the tunnel and reservoir system was completely full.
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:31 pm:
@Just Me
Farmers can select different seed still. In a general sense they just return or exchange it. Both corn and soybeans hybrids can be selected with different maturity lengths.
The trouble comes if everyone wants to get out of 114 day corn and into a short season one, or select a different group of beans.
On a side note the corn plant seems to adjust to the number of hours of light in a day and can on it’s own shorten it’s expected maturity date.
It’s a historic season for the state’s farmers and this will be just one of the many decisions they will have to make.
- ArchPundit - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 2:58 pm:
I’m blaming myself by pointing out to friends early in the year that heavy snow melts have to be combined with strong rains for something like 93. Current St Louis forecast is second highest flood about 5′ below 93.
- AND - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 3:14 pm:
I retired from IDOT a few years ago and have coordinated IDOT’s flood response along the Illinois and Mississippi and Sangamon rivers in central Illinois since before 1993.
What is missing in these events is a discussion about how often the rivers regularly approach these levels
The following link takes you to a state map that shows most of the river water gauges and clicking on a particular gauge will give you a a host of information at this location including a list of the flood levels thru the years and the critical levels that start to impact infrastructure.
water.weather.gov
I cant say enough how much IDOT and IDOC really makes the difference in these flood fighting events. I have seen inmates from facilities really put their heart and energy into assisting communities they don’t even live in.
Just thought the link would be interesting
- btowntruthfromforgottonia - Thursday, May 30, 19 @ 11:58 pm:
Illinois River at Beardstown is expected to crest about three tenths of a foot below the record here.
If it does 4 of the 5 highest crests will have occured since 2013.
Welcome to the new normal.