‘Training’ thunderstorms cause flooding to Illinois

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Most of central Indiana remained dry from Monday evening into Tuesday morning. However, flooding occurred in this same time frame just across the state border in southeastern Illinois. Here is a radar loop of the thunderstorms starting Monday evening:

At first, one thunderstorm formed and sat over these spots Monday evening. After that, “training” started to take place with more storms in the overnight hours. Thunderstorms have brought some places over 12″ of rain in a 24-hour period from 1 p.m. Monday to 1 p.m. Tuesday. Just to the southeast of Effingham seems to be where the most precipitation fell in a 24-hour span.

The process of “training” has been the main reason for the flooding. Training thunderstorms are when storms move over the same area repeatedly. It’s called training because the process is similar to trains on a railroad track.