Alton couple remembered after deadly flash flood

ALTON, Ill. – Massive flooding claimed the lives of an elderly couple from Alton, Ill., Tuesday.

The Jersey County Sheriff’s Department said the woman’s body was discovered inside a submerged vehicle on Beltrees Road, and her husband’s body was found a quarter mile away on the bank of Mill Creek.

The Alton community is coming together to remember the couple.

Terry and Carolyn Dooley sat near the front on the right side inside St. Mary’s Church during Mass, including this past Sunday.

“I had just talked to Carolyn on Sunday after the Mass…(we) had a good conversation with her about the Eucharistic procession. So very good, very cheery conversations, and then the news yesterday was very hard for me to take,” Father Chris Uhl with St. Mary’s Alton said.

Carolyn taught at St. Mary’s School, and Terry served on the finance council for the church.

“It is kind of like two big trees are not going to be there anymore. In a beautiful forest that this parish is, there’s a couple of big trees that won’t be there,” Uhl said.

The Jersey County Sheriff’s Office said just before noon on Tuesday they received a call from a man stuck in floodwaters by Mill Creek on Beltrees Road. The caller told first responders about another car flooded behind him, where an elderly man got out and tried to swim.

First responders said they found the Dooleys several hours later, when the water receded.

Alison Dreith lives nearby and said the flood water forced her to turn around in the same area where the Dooleys were stuck.

“I felt my life was in danger in that moment, and it hadn’t even reached flash flooding stages yet,” she said.

Dreith has never seen floodwaters reach that high in the area.

“It is definitely not surprising, but certainly devastating and something we can’t quite shake yet today. We’re really feeling the aftermath of those lives and everything that has been damaged around us,” she said.

Terry and Carolyn’s funerals are both set for Monday, according to Uhl.

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