May & June 2019 Flooding on the Illinois River

IRBS staff members filled sandbags and assembled a muscle wall to prevent the station from being flooded with a predicted crest on the Illinois River in Havana at ~26.5 ft.

Director Jim Lamer and ecologists Jason DeBoer and Levi Solomon talked with reporter Matt Sheehan from WMBD out of Peoria, Illinois, about some of the beneficial effects that floods can have on fish, and also the difficulty of working on and around the river when it’s flooded.

IRBS staff members behind flood wall
(Left to right) Andrya Whitten, Amber Blackert, Jim Lamer, Kris Maxon, Brandon Harris, Levi Solomon, McKayla Susen, Kara Phelps, Jason DeBoer, Jesse Williams, and Matt Altenritter.
Illinois River Biological Station
704 N Schrader Avenue
Havana, IL 62644-1055
309-543-6000