The city of Monticello was hit hard by Tuesday night’s storms, including flooding and damage to property.

“The (Sangamon) River is about as high as its ever been,” said Mayor Bill Mitze.

Mitze said the excessive amounts of rain the city caused houses and basements to flood and streets to be covered in rain. There were even a few instances of the city needing to remove citizens from their homes, since the water was so high.

Floyd Allsop, Monticello’s city manager, said according to the city’s unofficial findings, 9 inches of rain accumulated from the storms, resulting in the flooding.

Allsop added that between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., two tornado sirens were activated.

Mitze said that the Public Works department got “scores” of calls during the storm and worked all night to control the water, including placing sand bags in areas to absorb the water.

Currently, most of the roads have been cleared and are able to be driven on. The city has been able to keep up with the debris in the sewers so the water can be drained. Still, with the current forecast predicting more rain to come on Wednesday night, Mitze said they will do as much as they can to help, but it is unpredictable.

“There is not much that we can do,” Mitze said. “Many of the areas that will need (help) have already been reached, but we will respond as we can.”