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Another heavy rainstorm brings flooding to some areas in Flossmoor

A second major rainstorm in the last four weeks again brought flooding to low-lying areas in Flossmoor.

Heavy rains began early Thursday morning and continued through much of the day, with the National Weather Service issuing a warning about flood conditions that may follow the storm.

As of 8 a.m., 1.96 inches of rain had fallen in Homewood and 1.68 inches were recorded in Flossmoor, the weather service reported.

Flossmoor Public Works Director John Brunke said some flooding followed the storm, which he called “severe.”

The Flossmoor Road viaduct was closed for a few hours, Brunke said.

“We had other street closures for a short period of time in the Old Flossmoor neighborhood and Heather Hill,” Brunke said.

Mayor Paul Braun said he received several phone calls from residents after Thursday’s heavy rain. Streets in the Flossmoor Park neighborhood, including Hagen Lane and Evans Road, were particularly affected, he said.

The viaduct was closed at about 3 a.m., Braun said, adding it was reopened by around 6:30 a.m.

This week’s storm comes a month after a previous significant rainfall on Feb. 28. That storm brought two waves of heavy sheets of rain that also flooded low-lying areas in Flossmoor.

Following that storm, Braun told village board members Flossmoor’s drainage issues must be addressed. At the March 20 board meeting, he said the village needs to take a look this year at how to prevent flooding when similar storms occur in the future.

After the Feb. 28 storm, Brunke told the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle that flooding was exacerbated by debris clogging catch-basic grates.

“It is very difficult to prevent flooding from a storm like the one we experienced that night,” Brunke said. “Short term, we need to continue to clean storm structures and keep debris from clogging storm sewers so that they can drain properly.”

Over the long term, he said, Flossmoor needs to pursue funding opportunities to upgrade storm sewers in areas that have “underperforming infrastructure.”

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