LAKE WARREN, Illinois -- Several boats came loose from their docks at Lake Warren in an overnight flash flood Wednesday morning. A section of the road that circles the lake was also closed when water rushing through an underground culvert caused part of the road to fall.
"We don`t really know how much damage there is until after the lake goes down and people can go out in their pontoons and see what it looks like from the lake," said Cecil Lovdahl, who has lived on the lake for about forty years.
The lake association president found four pontoon boats resting against the dam in the morning, and a few others around the lake.
"They probably tied them too tight, so the water came up so fast it broke their landings and away they went," said Doug Severson, President of Hickory Grove Lake Association. "They started floating all over the lake, and they ended up down by their dam."
Severson was seen filling the collapsed portion of the road with rocks on Wednesday afternoon.
"It was so hard and fast that it just blew all the dirt around this culvert," Severson said. "And then the road started falling in," he said.
Every morning, Lovdahl walks down to check on his dock and gazebo. On Wednesday, the dock was flooded, but the gazebo was still standing.
"I always love to see that it’s still standing in the mornings," said Lovdahl.