ABC7 meteorologist Greg Dutra played a radar loop that showed storm after storm hitting the small town in Ford County, which is about 115 miles southwest of Chicago.
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"Doppler radar estimates about 9.5 to 10 inches of rain fell just over a six-hour period," Dutra said.
Illinois State Police say all state routes into town are closed, but it's not just streets that are flooded.
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"I've got three foot of water in my backyard and it's flooding into the house. It's only happened in about an hour-and-a-half's time that it took to flood my backyard," resident Richard March said. "The entire town's flooded."
People had to be taken by boat from their homes and a Decatur TV station reported rescues had to be made from a flooded senior center.