Charleston and Mattoon are vulnerable to many disasters, including tornadoes, fires, floods, and high winds, ice and hail storms, drought, earthquakes, hazardous material spills, and terrorism. Because of our location in tornado alley, we must live with capricious weater.

Mattoon and Charleston tornado in 1917 was the thirteenth deadliest in United States History.  Illinois has experienced three of the top 25 deadliest tornadoes in United States history. These include the Mattoon/Charleston Tornado of 1917, the East Saint Louis Tornado of 1896, and the Tri-State Tornado which cut through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana in 1925, killing 689 people.

Mattoon and Charleston have been the target of repeated flooding throughout the past Century.  Perhaps the worst of the flooding occurred in June of 1998 and May of 2002 when areas of Mattoon were declared State Disaster Areas.

Past Disasters

May 2002 Flooding

May 2002 was a very busy month for local and state officials as flooding plagued parts of Coles County.  Between April 11 and May 9, Mattoon recorded 12.32 inches of rain, or 302 percent of normal.

March 29, 1998 Mattoon Tornado

A tornado ripped through Mattoon on the early morning hours of March 29, 1998, destroying 18 homes, three businesses, and one apartment building and damaging dozens of other homes and businesses. Three people were injured in the tornado that cut a path one-fourth mile wide and three fourths mile long. Several vehicles and train cars were also destroyed in the tornado.

June 1998 Mattoon Flooding

A flash flood occurred when thunderstoms trained over the same area causing more than 4" of rain to fall in a very short period of time. The result was flooding that inundated several homes in the Southeast part of Mattoon.

Lake Mattoon Tornado