Severe thunderstorms hit Carbondale late Thursday and Friday nights, causing flash floods that closed roads in several parts of town and threatened business on the Strip Thursday, especially between East Walnut Street and East Cherry Street, where flooding was severe enough to submerge the sidewalk.

Booby’s employee Cassandra Coffey was working at the door Thursday when the storm front first rolled in. 

“At around 10-11 p.m., I started to feel a chilly breeze from the north while my other side was balmy and warm,” Coffey said. “At that point I said, ‘Hey, it’s time to go home. I’m from the South, I know what’s about to happen.’ One minute it was raining, but it looked like the drains were going to eat it, the next it’s almost up to the waist. It was up on the sidewalk, up to the headlights, there were even two cars stuck in the street.”

Carbondale City Councilman Nathan Colombo, board member at the Varsity Center next door, was keeping an eye on water levels, as the theater is especially vulnerable to floods.

“Depending on the amount of water in flash flood events, the Varsity will flood in the big room up to a couple feet,” Colombo said. “At 6 a.m., our board president, Billy Robins, checked the cameras and said that water infiltration from Highway 51 was minimal. We got really lucky.” 

Booby’s owner Abe Traverso described trying to get anywhere Thursday night as “apocalyptic.” Several high-traffic intersections, such as West Sunset Drive and North Parrish Lane,  were inaccessible due to flooding. Customers were allowed to stay past closing on Thursday night due to the unsafe conditions, and one video shows a Booby’s patron kayaking down the flooded section of the Strip.

While Booby’s largely shared in the Varsity Center’s luck on Thursday,  Traverso said that he had more trouble Friday night.

“We had more flooding inside (Friday) than we did Thursday,” Traverso said. “We had about 30 gallons of water enter our lower floor over the course of the night. I have this big shop-vac to suck up the water, and I must have dumped it about 10 times.” 

The intersections of East Main Street and South Wall Street, as well as East Walnut Street and Wall Street, were closed by the Carbondale Police Department due to rain Friday night before being reopened late Saturday Morning.

The Daily Egyptian received an image of SIU University Hall’s lobby flooded with muddy brown water. A reporter on the scene saw several Servicemaster Restore trucks and vans outside of University Hall, containing what appeared to be large wet/dry vacuums. SIU maintenance and police departments were contacted, but refused to comment at this time.

Staff Reporter Morrigan Carey can be reached at [email protected]

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