Rainfall Causes Flooding in the Stateline

A puddle so big you can see the reflection of the tree above it. Residents of the neighborhood say flooding is nothing new to them. John Mitchell of Rockford says "I live at the bottom of two hills. From the west you can see that you got a lot of flow going down this way. It goes toward those drains. Grant Avenue is a big hill and everything converges so it all converges at this corner."

John Mitchell was forced to back his car into an icy puddle as he left for church. He says it's the children who are really affected by the flooding. "It's inconvenient for those who are walking thru because this is one of the major corners for a bus stop." Mitchell says.

It is very inconvenient for Helena Queevo, 16. She says her family's basement gets flooded a lot. "Whenever we have a lot of rain it gets the floors wet, and it was a hassle whenever we had my brother in the basement." She says.

Her family was tired of having their belongings ruined by floods, so they decided to clear the basement out to make it easier for them to prepare for floods. "We don't have anything in the basement nowadays so we would prepare, usually we would just like put towels down and move rugs in the basement, but now we don't have anything down there." Said Queevo.

Officials say the amount of flooding does depend on where you are located. Director of Public Words Tim Hanson says "Rockford is a hilly town, I mean there's a lot of hills that are in there and water will pull at the lowest parts so if you're on a hill and you see something that's pulling into the intersection, it is still slick.

Hanson also urges residents to let the city know of any floods. He says "We do need to be aware of flooding and we have folks that are out today, we know we are only getting about a half inch of rain, but the snow will be melting."