A Junction Town With No River to Blame
Tolono grew up at an 1856 railroad crossing rather than along a river, incorporating in 1865 with a population largely tied to the rail lines. Without a nearby waterway shaping its site, water exposure in Tolono comes almost entirely from rainfall and county drainage capacity, not flood-prone terrain.
Storm Water on Flat, Poorly-Drained Prairie
Champaign County's black prairie soil was historically poorly drained enough that clay tile manufacturing became a local industry just to farm it, and that same drainage challenge affects how water moves around Tolono's homes during a heavy storm. Central Illinois's long-track tornado exposure adds wind-driven water intrusion to that same underlying drainage problem.