Heavy Rainfall and Flooding of March 17-19, 2008
 Rainfall from 7 AM Monday to 7 AM Tuesday |
 Rainfall from 7 AM Tuesday to 7 AM Wednesday |
(click images to enlarge)
A large portion of the country was affected by extremely heavy rainfall beginning on St. Patrick's Day (Monday, March 17) and continuing into Wednesday. Rainfall totals over 8 inches were reported in some areas. The heaviest rains extended from eastern Oklahoma, across southern portions of Missouri and Illinois, into a large portion of Indiana and Ohio. In the image at left (click to enlarge), red shades indicate at least 6 inches of rain (while the graphic is for a 7-day period, most of this rain fell between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning). Widespread flooding occurred across these areas as a result.
Here are some rainfall totals for the period from 7 AM Monday to 7 AM Wednesday. These reports are of Wednesday morning. Since the rain wasn't quite over with in some areas, storm totals may even be higher.
Location Rainfall Report Time Source
Clay City 4SE 6.87" 608 AM SWOP
Olney 5.73" 800 AM Public
Clay City 6SSE 5.35" 630 AM COOP
Olney 2S 5.21" 600 AM COOP
Flora 5.20" 700 AM COOP
Calhoun 5SE 5.15" 700 AM COOP
Lawrenceville 5.08" 615 AM COOP
Watson 5.00" 647 AM SWOP
Lawrenceville 1S 4.99" 700 AM Cocorahs
Wheeler 3NW 4.95" 1044 AM SWOP
Hutsonville 4.53" 700 AM COOP
Newton 8NW 4.46" 1057 AM SWOP
Robinson 4.22" 700 AM COOP
Moonshine 4.08" 559 AM COOP
Lawrenceville Arpt 3.84" 653 AM ASOS
Effingham 3.70" 550 AM COOP
Claremont 6N 3.68" 730 AM COOP
Martinsville 3.68" 700 AM COOP
Effingham 4WSW 3.64" 700 AM Cocorahs
Casey 3.63" 730 AM COOP
Effingham 3SW 3.39" 700 AM COOP
Neoga 3.26" 700 AM COOP
Beecher City 3.12" 730 AM COOP
Paris 2.53" 700 AM COOP
Mattoon 2.46" 800 AM COOP
Shelbyville 2.45" 700 AM Cocorahs
Mattoon 2E 2.39" 700 AM Cocorahs
Shelbyville Dam 2.33" 700 AM COOP
Taylorville 2SW 2.09" 700 AM COOP
