Wilmington declares state of emergency over flooding, Route 53 reopened

The City of Wilmington issued an emergency declaration Friday afternoon as flooding from ice jams covers the area.

The city reopened Route 53 simultaneously with the emergency declaration as water levels are improving, according to Will County officials.

Forked Creek is still experiencing flooding, and North First Street to Widows Road, East Kahler Road over Forked Creek, North and South Island Parks, and other additional roads in that area will remain closed.

Drivers are warned not to drive through standing water.

Matt Libs, a Will County Emergency Management Agency public information officer, said 14 people have been evacuated and the river water is fluctuating.

“They’re continuing to monitor as they might need to close the road again if the water rises too much,” Libs said. “That’s where we’re standing. Things got a little worse this morning and then got a little bit better this afternoon.”

Residents are still urged to monitor conditions and be cautious about possible flood conditions.

Libs said the EMA remains on high alert and doesn’t want to change residents’ alert status as the situation remains in flux.

The Grundy County EMA issued a news release Friday night that said several people had to be rescued Thursday night, and river activity resulted in some unknowns regarding ice and water movement in the dark.

Grundy County EMA assisted Will County by monitoring the county line subdivisions and water impacted Phelan Acres once again, an area already impacted earlier in the flooding. Residents had either already evacuated or were aware of the flood and had contingency plans if it were to get worse.

“Water and ice were flowing downstream all night until the jam at the County Line,” reads the Friday news release. “At about 6:40 a.m., the ice jam broke free and a large amount of water and ice began pushing downstream on the Grundy County side Nearly 3/4ths of the width of the river was on the move. It moved, pushing west through the ice pack and water with haste. This movement took place until it got to the curve of the river along the Macintosh Subdivision and then came to a stop once again. This did not result in any flooding on the Grundy County side.”

Then the ice sat with pressure building for around 3.5 hours before moving once again, and the ice pushed through the Grundy County side to the mouth of the Illinois River. The Illinois, Kankakee, and Mazon Rivers are now free-flowing with chunks of ice.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, the flash flood warning is expected to expire at 9:15 a.m. Saturday although both a flood watch and a flood warning don’t expire until noon Monday.

The Grundy County EMA is not aware of any flooding issues for residents in Grundy County that require assistance or damage assessment, and some road flooding is occurring across the county due to secondary waterways and low-lying areas.

An American Red Cross Regional Flooding Shelter has been set up at First Christian Church, 455 W. Southmor Road. This shelter will service Kankakee, Will, Grundy and La Salle for people impacted by local flooding only.