Flooding Problems Relatively Minor in Channahon, Minooka

Heavy runs caused flash flooding on some streets in areas of Channahon and Minooka on Thursday, but at least one local official described the fallout from the deluge as “minor.”

Rob Tonarelli, superintendent of Public Works with the Village of Minooka, said, “The biggest problems we had probably started at about 12:30 or 1 in the morning. We had some water on pavements, particularly in outlying areas adjacent to farm fields. Cornstalks and debris washed onto the roads, and this caused some streets to be flooded. But it was fairly minor.”

Tonarelli said power was out in the Lakewood Trails West Subdivision for a brief period of time in the early-morning hours on Thursday. He said the Sunset Club area was inundated with water.

“The rain gauge at our waste water plant was a 3.4 inches from yesterday morning (Wednesday, April 17) to this morning (Thursday, April 18),” Tonarelli said. “I think most of the rain fell from 9 p.m. to about midnight. The ground was pretty well saturated. So, most of it was pure runoff.”

Channahon Village Administrator Joe Pena took a ride around the community with some of his colleagues near the noon hour on Thursday. He was happy to report he saw nothing of any sort of crisis nature.

“The river is up, the detention ponds are high,” Pena said. “We’ll keep watching and see if there is something we can do. But that’s just about it. I think there are a lot of sump pumps failing and basements leaking all across the area.”

Pena said the Morris health care facility on Ridge Road lost power for a period of time, but switched over to its generator system and was able to avert any type of disaster.