Heavy rain in US triggers major flooding in Minnesota, Oklahoma
Pastor Dale Morgan
Heavy rain in US triggers major flooding in Minnesota, Oklahoma*
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 19 (AFP) Aug 19, 2007
Torrential rain triggered flooding in several US states, killing at
least four and prompting dramatic rescues of those trapped on their
roofs and in cars by fast rising waters, officials said.
Four died in the northern state of Minnesota as a result of the
flooding, authorities said. There were also two unconfirmed flood deaths
in neighboring Houston County.
More than one car plunged into a 30-feet-deep pit after rain washed away
a road overnight in the small town of Witoka, Bob Reinert, the
administrator of southern Winona County, told AFP.
Railroad bridges, houses and buildings were all swept away in the
flooding with six to eight inches -- and up to a foot of rain -- falling
overnight in some areas.
Heavy rain was also reported in neighboring Wisconsin.
The Minnesota town of Stockton was completely evacuated by authorities,
who used boats to rescue about 75 people, including some who had to
climb to their rooftops, Reinert said.
Several other farm towns along the Whitewater River, and the larger city
of Winona along the Mississippi River, were evacuated or partially
evacuated.
In the St. Charles area, farmer Ralph Kaehler said he and other local
residents could not recall such large-scale flooding since the early 1970s.
But even that flooding was not as bad as this, Kaehler said. "North of
town, it's hitting the hundred-year flood mark," he said.
He said he had seen water pouring through the open doors of an evacuated
nursing home, St. Charles Assisted Living, to the north of the town.
"It looks like it's sitting in the middle of a big lake right now,"
Kaehler said.
The towns of Stockton and Elba were hit hardest as the Whitewater River
burst its banks and flooded a wide area.
Houses slid off their foundations and floated away. One witness told a
local television station that he saw some people on top of a house,
screaming, as it was washed away.
Meanwhile in the central state of Oklahoma, the remnants of tropical
storm Erin dumped heavy rain and triggered flooding.
Authorities feared at least three people had been killed by the high
water, Oklahoma media reported.
Authorities were searching for three women who were in a van that was
swept into fast-moving waters near Carnegie.
Local television stations carried harrowing footage of flood victims in
the town of Kingfisher struggling to hang on to the landing runners of a
rescue helicopter. Two fell back into the vast expanse of brown water,
and the rescue chopper returned again to pluck them out.
The flooding closed highways and roads after the storm dropped several
inches of rain, with up to nine inches (23 centimeters) in Fort Cobb.
Flash flood watches remained in effect for parts of central Oklahoma and
northern Texas but the storm appeared to be receding, the National
Weather Service said.
"The latest radar imagery suggests that the storm has been weakening,"
the weather service said on Sunday.
While the weakening storm drifted across Oklahoma, powerful Hurricane
Dean was expected to hit Jamaica later on Sunday and could strike the
southern US coast in Texas on Wednesday.