Charles Street businesses hit hard by Rockford flash floods

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) – Thunderstorms and flash flooding kept parts of Rockford under water over the weekend.

Some Charles Street businesses along the Keith Creek corridor were hit especially hard and are now assessing the damages.

“A lot of fixtures from the building are completely destroyed,” said Michelle Johns, who has operated Tarot by Michelle in the 2300 block of Charles Street for 13 years.

Johns’ business was flooded over the weekend, as Rockford was hammered with several inches of rain between July 13 and July 15. Now, she doesn’t know when she’ll able to reopen.

“We’ve got maybe 2 to 3 inches [of water] in the front part of the shop, and in the back part of the shop, about a foot and a half,” she said. “The basement is completely flooded—about 4 to 5 feet of water.”

Johns pumped 2 feet of water out of her shop on Sunday. Another storm system came through a few hours later.

“It surged and flooded the building again,” she said. ” And it was higher this time because of the creek being full.”

The source of last weekend’s flooding is a box culvert system on the corner of 22nd and Charles streets that does mitigate flooding. However, because of the massive amount of rain that fell a short period of time, it wasn’t long before there was a breach, and the area was overtaken by fast-moving currents.

“When it’s full, the water goes over the box culvert onto Charles Street and races down here at full speed and floods everything out,” said Dave Carter, who’s operated Rock River Service at 2222 Charles Street since 1986. “It actually moved the cement pylons that we have like they were paperweights.”

Culture Shock owner Skyler Davis lost inventory to the floods over the weekend, and all of his new landscaping outside of his building is gone.

“This will be my fifth flood in 18 years,” Davis said. “And every time, that’s where the flooding begins is on Charles Street. Because where the culvert diverts to the other side behind us, it jumps that street. We flood on the street first in the front of the building before the creek even floods.”

Business owners say the next step is to brace for more flooding while they try to put a value on their losses.

Davis and Carter haven’t calculated their damages. Johns figures she’s out between $5,000 and $6,000 so far.

The city of Rockford is currently in the middle of a flood-mitigation plan in the 2200 block of Charles Street that includes green space and improvements to the banks of Keith Creek.

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