Flash Flood Watch in Effect Through Sunday Morning; 2-4 Inches of Rain Possible

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The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch, in effect through Sunday morning at 6am. For the Effingham area, this will mainly be a rain event, now with 1.5-3 inches of rain possible. The heaviest rain is expected Saturday and Saturday evening, and may include isolated thunderstorms. As the advisory from the National Weather Service below indicates, already wet ground from the fast-melting snow, combined with the heavy rainfall expected will create flooding situations, especially in low-lying and flood-proned areas. Clay county remains under an additional Flood Warning until 12:30pm Saturday afternoon.

North and west of our region will be significantly different. Freezing rain and snow will be common across areas north and west of I-55.

Here's the latest from the National Weather Service in Lincoln:

A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT... THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR * PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS...CHRISTIAN...MACON...MOULTRIE...PIATT AND SHELBY. IN EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...CHAMPAIGN...CLARK...COLES... CUMBERLAND...DOUGLAS...EDGAR AND VERMILION. IN SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS...CLAY...CRAWFORD...EFFINGHAM...JASPER...LAWRENCE AND RICHLAND. * THROUGH LATE TONIGHT * A STALLED FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL PROVIDE A FOCUS FOR A PROLONGED RAIN EVENT OVER EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. RAINFALL TOTALS OF 1.5 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF A CHAMPAIGN TO DECATUR TO TAYLORVILLE LINE...WITH LOCALLY UP TO 4 INCHES NEAR THE WABASH RIVER AROUND LAWRENCEVILLE. THE HEAVIEST RAIN IS EXPECTED TO FALL THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. THIS RAINFALL IN CONJUNCTION WITH RECENT SNOW MELT AND ALREADY SATURATED GROUND...IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE PROBLEMS WITH FLOODING DUE TO EXCESSIVE RUNOFF. * IMPACTS INCLUDE FLOODED ROADS FROM OVERFLOWING FARM FIELDS AS WELL AS STREAMS EXCEEDING BANK FULL. THE LITTLE WABASH RIVER AT CLAY CITY IS FORECAST TO RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE LATE THIS AFTERNOON. FLOODING IS ALSO EXPECTED ON THE EMBARRAS RIVER AT LAWRENCEVILLE FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY.

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON CURRENT FORECASTS. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING DEVELOP.