Residents on Taylor Street along the Kishwaukee River were rolling up their pant legs to wade through the flood waters left by this weekend’s heavy rainfall.

According to the NIU weather forecast as of 7 a.m. Sunday, NIU has had 5.26 inches of rainfall from this storm system. The areas east and southeast of the campus have experienced up to three inches more.

The area is under a flood warning until 10 a.m. today and a river flood warning is also in effect for the Kiskwaukee River.

Sergeant Jon Costliow, of the DeKalb Police Department, said the only road closed was the 800 block of West Taylor Street.

Costliow stressed that sandbags were available for residents at the City Water Department, 1216 Market St. He said a reverse 911 call went out to residents on Taylor Street, John Street and Tinton Park telling them about the excessive rainfall and where they could get sandbags Saturday night.

Nichole Greening, a first year kinesiology graduate assistant who lives in Riverside Apartments on Taylor Street, has only been in DeKalb for three weeks when the Kishwaukee River came only 10 feet from her first floor apartment windows.

Greening said all they can do is wait and hope the water doesn’t come up to their building.

“We’re waiting to see if it goes over the sidewalk or not,” Greening said. “That’s all we can do. We have to wait to see how much the water is going to rise still. Hopefully it’s done raining.”

Greening said she already has a little bit of water in her apartment.

The electric box for her building is on the east side which had not been sandbagged, Greening said. If the water reaches the box, they would have to leave their apartment.

“There’s water in our sewer drains where they put the pumps,” Greening said. “They shut the water off in our building.”

Becky Flynn, of Riverside Apartments, said she started sandbagging at 7 a.m. Sunday morning to protect her apartment. She said luckily her apartment has not been affected.

“So far none of the buildings have water in them, so that’s a plus right now,” Flynn said.

Flynn said they still have to wait because the river can still rise.

“The problem right now is waiting to see what goes on further south because the Kish is one of the rivers that actually flows north,” Flynn said. “So anything they get to the south of us still comes in through the Kish and affects us.”

Costliow said Taylor Street had to be closed because it was under water. He stressed that is was dangerous to drive on the road.

“Wakes can be caused by drivers and it can go over sandbags and damage residences,” Costliow said.

Flynn said she is not bothered by the road being closed, but she is more concerned with people who ignore the road signs and try to go through the standing water.

“The road closed isn’t what bothers me,” Flynn said. “What bothers me is the fact that it’s marked ‘road closed’ and people are ignoring it. There have been plenty of people that still drive around the barricades and still try to go through it.”

Ed and Jamie Zizminskas live in Ashbury Court Apartments with their son Aleks, 2. They have lived there for three years. Ed, a senior electrical engineering major, said their apartment had not been affected by the flooding yet. They saw what the flooding did to the community last year, and Jamie does not think this year will be any different. She thinks the river will continue to rise and cause damage to more property.

“It’s probably going to be like last year, but you never know,” Jamie said. “We’re used to it. We’ve been here for a while.”

Costliow said no one has had to evacuate their homes yet and he hopes the flood waters will recede in the next day or two, if not sooner.

Editor’s Note: City Editor Jessica Sabbah contributed to this article.