Wanted to post some information from our April 21,2026 RRHA Meeting held at TAD’s Bar & Grill at 6:30 pm. We’d like to share some of the information that was submitted since some of the invited guest could not make it and others would like copies of the information given.
As of April 20, 2026, Machesney Park has recorded approximately 17.11 inches of rain for the year-to-date (YTD). Recent data shows 0 inches of rain in the last 24 hours, with a previous significant event recording 1.55 inches around April 18. Total rainfall for the past 7 days reached 6.50 inches. YTD average rainfall at this time is 7.79″. We almost reached the average year rainfall in the last 7 days. Currently we are in a unique event.
Below is the current gage at 4/22/26 at 6:49 PM CST. The river is receding pending no further rain fall will occur.
Sheriff Gary Caruana and his team attended the meeting and presented info on the following images. The following stresses that the Fordam Dam is not a storage reservoir or flood control structure. They further stated that recent computer model analysis performed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (weather.gov) that opening the dam gates earlier would have no effect on the Rock River crest during April 2026.
The following slide shows the Gate Changes and Very Low Flow vs High Flow. At low flow, the dam allows more river height control. However, when we come into a flood event, the dam has very little affects.
Something that was very interesting was that a group stated that we seem to be flooding much more these days than we did in the past. Gary and his team presented a slide from NOAA showing the rainfall amounts in the area since 1940. The chart clearly shows that average flow rate in 1950’s was around 3500 cfs while in 2020 time frame it has increased to 6300 cfs. So indeed the weather has changed over the past 50 years.
We would like to thank all that visited our meeting and the questions that were asked. In general, the sheriff’s team stated there is an online form about the past storm damage that occurred. This is not limited to the river, but for the entire area. The flyer they handed out is shown below.
With respect to flooding, please see the following link for more information on the 2019 Town Hall!