Thanks to a Dry July, Storms Cause No Problems

While record-setting rains this weekend left thousands in the northern suburbs bailing out their basements, riverbank-dwellers in Plainfield stayed mostly dry.

“It actually worked the way it supposed to. The flood plain flooded,” said Karen Rebuehr, one of the founding members of the DuPage River Storm Water-Concerned Group.

“Some of us had two or three feet of water in our yards Sunday morning, but water didn’t reach our homes,” she said. 

Rebuehr lives on Weller Drive north of Plainfield off Plainfield-Naperville Road between Plainfield and 135th Street.

The lack of rain in July left conditions right for sopping up a big rain, she said.

“It was dry,” Rebuehr said. “We needed the rain. It came at a good time.”

From Friday through Sunday, the National Weather Service recorded just under three inches of rain at the Romeoville office, the closest measurement station to Plainfield. Some areas north of Chicago logged nearly seven inches over the same period.

The DuPage peaked at about 12 feet on Sunday, and dropped back to just under nine feet this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey online river gauge sponsored by Plainfield Township http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?05540290.

The next chance for rain comes tonight and Thursday, when forecasters say there's a 40 percent to 50 percent odds we'll see thunderstorms.