Spring and Summer flooding in the Midwest was particularly bad in 2019. Several states, including Illinois, were affected. For the last few months, IEMA has been actively deploying assets and managing resources to assist local agencies with flooding along the Mississippi and the Illinois Rivers. Through May and June, the resource requests were significantly large. Resources from mutual aid assets across the entire public safety spectrum were deployed into Southwestern Illinois. Eighty-nine local law enforcement agencies deployed over 100 officers/deputies into the area over an extended period of time. Officers were patrolling, providing site security at public safety operations centers and securing levees to ensure they were not damaged. Officers/deputies from Mobile Field Force Teams, Special Response Teams and from non-team individual agencies from across the State participated.
In addition to the the law enforcement assets, fire/rescue responders (particularly swift water rescue and watercraft assets), emergency managers and communications equipment and technicians also deployed to assist. Please click here for an interactive map of the mutual aid assets that responded to the flood in the last several weeks. ILEAS thanks all of those agencies and first responders who interrupted their normal lives to volunteer to help their fellow public safety staff and citizens in Southwestern Illinois!