GALESBURG, Illinois - After flash flooding last night, the City of Galesburg is cleaning up. Some roads reopened earlier this afternoon after being closed this morning.
Gisela Benson has lived in the cul-de-sac off Cornelia Road for 40 years. When it comes to flooding, Benson and her husband are always prepared for the worst.
“We’ve had sandbags by our garage for years, and we put them out when it gets that bad,” says Benson.
Overnight it was no different.
“When it’s 4 inches in 4 hours then it gets as bad as it did last night,” says Benson.
Over two feet of water covered the cul-de-sac – rising above construction cones in the area. Cars having no way of getting through.
“It’s kind of a crazy ride around here with the constant rain,” says Alan Riley, Galesburg resident.
Floods closed nine streets in Galesburg and people were out of power.
“Power got knock out for us last night,” says Riley. “It started at 3 o’clock this morning and didn’t come on until 7 this morning.”
Causing some to wake up late.
“It killed all the clocks and kind of threw off the time for us,” mentions Riley.
But the people of Galesburg keep a positive outlook.
“It sucked, but you can recover from it,” says Riley.
Some are putting things back in place this morning.
“We’ll spend a couple days cleaning up and it’s back to normal,” says Benson.
After 40 years, Benson won’t let these high waters stop her family.
“We love our house and we’ve so far been in not too bad of shape,” assures Benson.