CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, Ill. – Many residents throughout the viewing area have been left with damage caused by heavy flooding Tuesday.

Residents of Cahokia Heights are finding themselves trapped by unprecedented flooding, one of many areas devastated by the relentless rain.

Residents in the Private Mathison Apartments woke up to a nightmare, discovering their parking lot was submerged in water at 4 a.m. Power outages plagued the area until 2 p.m.

Many families remain trapped inside, waiting for the water to drain. Despite a visit from the Housing Authority, residents are still in the dark about any plans to address the issue.

Meanwhile, in south St. Louis, Jamiesha Steed of Ridge Crest Apartments faced a terrifying ordeal when her ceiling caved in during the extreme downpour.

“My ceiling came in for one. A week ago, the light was leaking and I let the leasing office know. They told me they couldn’t do nothing about it then. But I feel like they could’ve prevented it, because now I don’t have a room” Steed said.

She also faces mold and water damage, with little to no response from maintenance. The leasing office referred FOX 2 to New Earth Corporate, but calls went unanswered.

“They came out here and they looked at it and they told me they can’t do anything about it and to close the door,” Steed said.

In St. Louis County, Castle Point resident Chanel Howard shared her distressing experience. Her basement flooded due to backed-up pipes, with water reaching a foot and a half deep.

“From the rain, the pipe backed up, I guess, or the drain backed up, and now my basement was flooded,” she said.

Howard remains without help, and her planned bedroom for her and her baby is now ruined.

“I wanna cry, honestly. I got stuff from my mom that passed that’s damaged now,” she said.

The stories of just some residents paint a grim picture of the impact of the relentless rain across our region, leaving residents seeking answers and urgent assistance. 

Hundreds of people in a southern Illinois town were ordered to evacuate Tuesday as water rolled over the top of a dam, just one perilous result of severe weather that raged through Midwest overnight with relentless rain and tornadoes and hit the Chicago area especially hard. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, and even weather forecasters had to briefly scramble for safety, the AP reports. A woman in Indiana died after a tree fell on a home Monday night

• Water overtopped a dam near Nashville, Illinois, sending first responders out to ensure everyone got out safely. There were no reports of injuries in the community of 3,000, southeast of St. Louis, but a woman reported water up to her waist in her home, said Alex Haglund, a spokesperson for the Washington County Emergency Management Agency.
• Officials had earlier said about 300 people were in the evacuation zone near the city reservoir. The rest of Nashville was not in imminent danger from the dam failure, but flash flooding on roads created worries about water rescues. Haglund said a portion of the dam failed early Tuesday, but it wasn’t clear if it was a break or an overtopping. A “secondary failure” happened later in the morning when the dam was overtopped.

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Tree limbs were scattered across yards, streets and even on some homes Tuesday morning after a strong storm moved through the area Monday night that produced wind gusts of up to 70 mph.

The highest known winds were at Tanner’s Orchard in Speer, Illinois, where winds reached 105 mph.

City of Peoria, Peoria County and East Peoria

But within the City of Peoria, damage seemed to be limited, at least based upon observation and social media posts, to trees and downed power lines.

On Marlene Street, which is located just across University Street from the Metro Center, large limbs and branches covered front yards. The images were worse in the back yards, residents said.

Over on Glen Avenue across from Concordia Lutheran School, a large branch at least 25 feet long covered a good portion of a person’s front yard.

North of there, off Sheridan Court, which is near Keller Primary School, a resident reported a large tree down in the middle of the street as well as a power line. Power was still out in that area, the person said.

Over in East Peoria, a tree was seen to have fallen on a SUV parked in a driveway.

According to the East Peoria Police Department, several roads were closed within the city including stretches of Springfield Road, Cole Street, Pekin Avenue and Bloomington Road. All were due to storm debris, across the river.

According to Ameren Illinois, there are about 7,500 customers without power in Peoria County.

Tazewell, McLean and Woodford counties

There are about 8,800 in Tazewell County. McLean and Woodford counties had roughly 650 customers without power, according to the outage map.

Marshall County

Even farther north, in Lacon, damage was reported all over. Several people posted on social media images of large, downed trees, leaning against homes or on top of cars. Near First and Center streets in Lacon, a large tree blocked the road.

Fulton County

Fulton County Emergency Management Agency Director Chris Helle said North Bethel Road at Rattlesnake Branch is washed out.

He has been told Ameren crews are out trying to restore power to Farmington. He also said the Salvation Army of Canton is going out and helping people.

This story will be updated.