© G-Jun Yam/Associated Press
A man picks up sandbags to reinforce the barrier he built to keep the flood water from reaching his house Friday, July 14, 2017, in Gurnee, Ill. Illinois officials said Friday that several thousand buildings have been affected by “unprecedented” flooding north of Chicago, and the damage is expected to worsen this weekend as water flows down rivers into the state from Wisconsin.
A man picks up sandbags to reinforce the barrier he built to keep the flood water from reaching his house Friday, July 14, 2017, in Gurnee, Ill. Illinois officials said Friday that several thousand buildings have been affected by “unprecedented” flooding north of Chicago, and the damage is expected to worsen this weekend as water flows down rivers into the state from Wisconsin.
Heavy rains have left large swaths of the region under water. Severe flooding has closed roadways and knocked out power.
The flooding is being called unprecedented. Authorities say two months of rain have fallen in just 12 hours in Gurnee, north of Chicago. It's not uncommon to see flooding here, 1.6 trillion gallons of water fell this week on portions of Wisconsin and Illinois, where Bruce Rauner is the governor.
"Folks think because it's not raining anymore, things are just fine or getting better -- they're not," Rauner says.
In Lake County, Illinois, 5,800 buildings have reportedly been damaged by flood water. Forecasters say flooding in the northern Chicago suburbs will get worse over the next few days as water flows down rivers into the state from Wisconsin.
Comment: Northern suburbs of Chicago hit hard by heavy rains, flooding