BLOOMINGTON - For Greg Cooper of LeRoy, the heavy rain that pounded Central Illinois on Friday night was the last thing he wanted to see. | Photo gallery | Five-day forecast | Submit your weather photo

For six years, he and his wife, Valerie, had no water problems in their finished basement on Elm Street.

A few weeks ago, however, they were hit by storm water that backed up through the drains.

On Friday, with new drywall recently put up and primed for painting, another of this spring's several heavy rainfalls hit. Cooper spent the evening plugging basement drains with towels and rags in hopes of keeping the water from surging up like little geysers.

"I've done all I could do," he said, surveying his handiwork.

LeRoy was one of many communities swamped by a line of heavy thunderstorms Friday evening that rolled across the Midwest, dumping rain and hail on already-saturated ground.

While NWS radar detected several funnel clouds, especially over southern Logan County, there were no reports of touchdowns in Central Illinois, said meteorologist Dan Smith of the NWS at Lincoln.

Aside from flooding, the most significant damage reports were of broken tree limbs and scattered power outages.

Flooding

Some flooding was expected Saturday along the Mackinaw River at Congerville. A flood warning was in effect until 6 p.m. for much of Central Illinois.

About 2 inches of rain fell between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. alone in DeWitt County and the southern half of Logan County, Smith said. Livingston County received half an inch to up to 2 inches of rain Friday evening, weather officials said.

Just northeast of Bloomington, 1.24 inches was recorded. Bigger totals were seen in southeast McLean County, where LeRoy saw around 1.75 inches, perhaps more in some areas.

Curt Hawk, head of McLean County Emergency Management Agency, said Friday night several streets in LeRoy were flooded because the "sewers can't keep up, which is not out of the ordinary for the rain we've been having."

Roads were temporarily flooded in several areas Friday, including a mile-long stretch of U.S. 150 two miles south of Downs.

The second night of Clinton's annual MayDays Festival was washed out by the storms.

Logan County

The worst of the storm activity was in southern Logan County. The area northwest of Mount Pulaski saw the largest hail - an inch in diameter - about 6 p.m. and the highest wind speed of the night - 60 mph - about 6:30 p.m. Smith said.

An apartment complex in Latham in Logan County was reported flooded late Friday night and residents were evacuated to a nearby hotel, according to a county emergency manager's report to the NWS.

Pea-sized hail fell at Clinton, where firefighters reported a lightning igniting a tree on Walnut Road.

Creeks, rivers

Area creeks and rivers were especially worrisome for local emergency management officials.

Robert Hix, Emergency Management Agency director for Woodford County, said the Mackinaw River could flood farmland in his county and threaten houses and farm buildings in Tazewell County.

The Mackinaw River at Congerville was at 12.46 feet at 11:45 a.m. Saturday and was expected to crest at 13.5 feet around 7 a.m. Sunday, a half-foot above flood stage. Widespread agricultural flooding occurs at 13 feet, NWS says.

Water levels should gradually subside Saturday afternoon and become less widespread as the day wears on, NWS reported.

The forecast calls for clear skies through the week, NWS reported.

By the numbers

The 1.19 inches of rain recorded at the official NWS station west of Central Illinois Regional Airport put the May total at about 4.79 inches. May is the wettest month of the year, with an average rainfall of 4.27 inches.

The Twin Cities received nearly 14 inches in January through April. The average for those four months is 9.78 inches.

Ryan Denham, Tony Sapochetti, Roger Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.