One of the more severe storms DeKalb has seen in 24 years pounded the area Thursday.

After drenching DeKalb for the evening, the storm left the river swollen and flooded and some areas of DeKalb under water.

The storm and sirens took over at about 2:30 p.m., blotting out the sun with ominous clouds and torrential rainfall, violently interrupting NIU’s freshmen move-in day.

“We sounded the sirens because the conditions were perfect for a potential tornado,” said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen on Thursday. “We were looking at swirling clouds and the definite threat of hail, which ended up falling to the west of us.”

Gilbert Sebenste, staff meteorologist at NIU, said the storm can be classified as a “micro burst.”

“There were reports of a tornado in the Malta area, but our damage survey revealed no damage caused by a tornado,” Sebenste said. “This storm had the traits of a ‘micro burst’, which is a small concentrated area of high winds produced by the storm, which were probably somewhere around 70 mph.”

Possibly one of the most immediate and obvious effect of the storm was the closure of Annie Glidden Road, which was barricaded between Taylor Street and Lincoln Highway.

“We needed to close down that section of the road, due to the fact that there is obviously heavy flooding and also due to the road construction,” said DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki. “We need to make sure people can see the road ahead of them, due to the soft shoulders and risk for dangerous accidents.”

The Kishwaukee River has proved to be a problem, spilling over into parks, apartment complexes and residents’ own yards, dotting the city with brand new ponds.

Harlen and Sue Hildebrandt have lived on Taylor Street for 24 years, but they said they’ve never seen anything quite like this.

“We’ve lived here since 1983 and that was also the last time we had any serious flooding in our yard,” Sue said. “But even then, it was only 10 inches or so.”

The Hildebrandt’s backyard remains under four feet of water, which completely submerges a chain-link fence on one side. The water lines are clearly visible on the house and on the back wooden fence, having receded about six inches since the rain stopped.

The rain also found its way into the Hildebrandt’s basement. Anything that wasn’t hauled upstairs is either floating on top of or sunk to the bottom of three feet of murky brown water. Two gas-powered pumps borrowed from their neighbor rattle and spit, noisily sucking the basement dry.

“Our two sump pumps didn’t even come close to handling it,” Harlen said. “The water rose above the electric sockets in the basement much too quickly for us to bail, so we haven’t had power since early Friday morning.”

According to both Biernacki and the Hildebrandts, DeKalb has bought properties in the Taylor Street area to prevent private owners from experiencing severe property damages due to flooding. But the city never pursued the Hildebrandt’s property.

“I see us moving in the next five years, after all this,” Sue said. “This has certainly been exhausting, and I just can’t see myself doing it five years from now.”

The last time DeKalb saw a comparable storm was in 1983, Sebenste said.

“It was a very intense storm. The river rose to 15.8 feet and much of the east part of campus was flooded,” Sebenste said. “But the flooding is actually much worse this time around. This was at least a fifty-year flood,” Sebenste said, referring to floods that happen every half-century.

The Kishwaukee River is now a marsh at some points in its run. The Hildebrandts have dubbed their neighborhood “Lake Kishwaukee.” People can be seen using kayaks in their flooded backyards, floating right up to their sliding glass doors.

The football field at Clinton Rosette Middle School is also underwater and the goal posts stand on either side of the new hundred-yard pond.

“We [expected] the river to be below its banks on the east side of campus by late tonight,” Sebenste said Saturday evening. “It should go completely under its banks by late Sunday. The rest of the water should steadily recede throughout the rest of the week.”