71
Recorded events
2
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$1.9M
Property damage
Flood in Rock Island County, Illinois: 71 recorded events between 1998 and 2024. The strongest on record measured 0. That places the county #133 nationally and #10 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Flood in Rock Island County, Illinois: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for flood in Rock Island County is the 2010s, when 45 of the county's 71 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Rock Island County archive, flood makes up 11.3% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #133 for this hazard and #10 within Illinois, putting it in the 95.3 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
May is the peak month for flood in Rock Island County with 16 recorded events, while Nov is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2019 | ROCK IS | 0 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 3, 1999 | ROCK IS | 0 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 2024 | ILLINOIS CITY | 0 | $0 |
| Jul 3, 2024 | ROCK IS | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 25, 2023 | LOUD THUNDER PARK | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 25, 2023 | PORT BYRON | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 24, 2023 | ROCK IS | 0 | $0 |
| May 21, 2020 | BLACKHAWK STATE PARK | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2019 | ILLINOIS CITY | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2019 | ROCK IS | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2019 | JOSLIN | 0 | $0 |
| May 31, 2019 | JOSLIN | 0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Rock Island County
- Thunderstorm Wind 301
- Hail 152
- Tornado 41
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Two to three inches of rain fell in one hour to cause localized flooding of streets and houses from 3rd Street andRiver Drive in Davenport to 9th Street and 17th Avenue in Rock Island. A fatality occurred when a 39 year old male drove from dry ground into the flooded intersection of 5th Avenue and 40th Street in Rock Island. The victims car began floating and became lodged underneath a railroad viaduct, at which time he left his vehicle and was swept away. The water depth underneath the railroad viaduct was estimated at six to seven feet.
The Mississippi River remained above its major flood stage of 18 feet through the month of April. The river crested at 20.68 feet on April 8th. Preliminarily this would be the 10th highest crest of record.|On April 29, a man drowned when his car went off Illinois 92 between 18th and 31st Avenues in Rock Island, and into a ditch flooded with water from the Mississippi River. The car was overturned in 6 to 8 feet of water in a normally dry ditch.
Heavy rains during the middle of the month resulted in the Rock River at Joslin going above the moderate flood stage level of 14 feet on June 22nd around 12 am. It crested around 14.73 feet around 830 pm on June 23. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 5 pm June 24.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many flood events are on record in Rock Island County, Illinois?
71 flood events are recorded in Rock Island County between 1998 and 2024, causing 2 direct deaths.
What is the strongest flood recorded in Rock Island County?
The strongest flood on record in Rock Island County measured 0.
Where does the flood data for Rock Island County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Flood in Rock Island County, Illinois.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/illinois/rock-island-county/flood/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.