Heavy rains cause flooding in Oregon and along Rock River

Glenn Koos didn’t mind giving a neighbor a lift to the entrance of Brooks Isle on Saturday morning. And his golden retriever, Rio, really liked it as she sat on the front of the flat bottomed boat looking for sticks in the rising Rock River.

Koos was one of several Brooks Isle residents who was commuting by boat to his home along the Rock River from the residential enclave’s entrance on Illinois 2, just south of Oregon.

“We’re hoping we can stay in our home, but if the river continues to rise I don’t know.” said Koos. "But Rio loves this."

Dave Rudis, also a resident of the Isle, paddled a kayak up alongside Koos' boat.

“We’re OK. We’re used to this,” he said.

Meanwhile Ashley Anderson and her son Elias were waiting along the road after leaving their home Friday night.

“The water came up several feet in a few hours so we decided to leave. There was a lot of water,” Ashley said.

Torrential rains Friday night caused flash flooding in Ogle County forcing road closures on area roads.

Residents of the Oregon Living & Rehabilitation Center on South 10th Street had to be evacuated with the help of Oregon fire department crews and taken to surrounding centers around 2 a.m. on Saturday.

Late Saturday morning, standing water remained around the center and covered Lions Park as well as one block of Webster Street.

Rich Edlund, Oregon, thought the water was low enough on Webster Street to drive his 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle through.. He was wrong. The cycle stalled midway up the street forcing his passenger Tanya Steder to dismount so Edlund could push the cycle up to a dry area on 10th Street.

“I had to give it a try,” said Edlund, smiling as he dumped water out of his boots. “It was deeper than I thought, but everything in the bags stayed dry.”

After a couple of tries, the Harley started up again.

Ogle County Sheriff Brian VaVickle announced Saturday afternoon that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources had closed the Rock River for boaters in the counties of Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, and Whiteside.

Also, Ogle County ESDA Director Tom Richter said sand bags were available at the following locations: Rogers Ready Mix- Byron; Rockvale Township Building on River Road; and the IDNR boat launch in Grand Detour on Illinois 2.