Three drown in record US Midwest flooding
Pastor Dale Morgan
Three drown in record US Midwest flooding*
Region bracing for more violent weather
Jim Avelis / The Terre Haute Tribune-Star
updated 1:10 p.m. ET June 8, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - A possible tornado toppled trees in Nebraska and
record flooding chased people from their Indiana homes early Sunday as
the Midwest braced for still more violent weather.
At least one person downed in the Indiana flooding and one was missing
since more than 10 inches of rain swamped the state this weekend.
Twenty-one counties had been declared disasters, said John Erickson, a
spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
In Michigan, two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press drowned
early Sunday when their car became submerged in a creek that washed out
a road, the newspaper said.
The National Weather Service forecast more damaging weather Sunday in
the Midwest, and posted severe storm warnings for parts of Illinois and
Wisconsin.
"We not out of the woods yet," weather service hydrologist Al Shipe said.
The rising White River led officials in the southern city of Seymour to
order a mandatory evacuation of more than 100 homes Sunday morning.
Record flooding also continued along the Wabash and Flatrock rivers,
Erickson said. A Johnson County dam was breached by the high water but
had not failed, he said.
"It's in bad shape," Erickson said.
Shelters set up in the southern Indiana city of Columbus were filled
with people, Erickson said.
Hospital, nursing home evacuated
More than 250 patients and employees were evacuated from Columbus
Regional Hospital in southern Indiana, and 150 residents were taken out
of a flooded nursing home in Morgan County, southwest of Indianapolis.
Flooding also forced 430 people staying at a Columbus-area high school
to move to another shelter.
Erickson did not have details about the drowning. One person was
reported missing after falling off an airboat in a flooded area, state
police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said.
In Omaha, Neb., a possible tornado touched down, smashing a tree onto a
house. No deaths or major injuries have been reported.
Rain continued falling Sunday in Wisconsin, where a day earlier strong
storms with baseball-size hail and high wind blew roofs off homes,
toppled trees and power lines, and injured at least six people.
State emergency management officials evacuated two dozen people living
in a trailer park in De Soto ahead of rising water.
Illinois residents were measuring the damage caused by Saturday's
twisters in Chicago's suburbs, where minor injuries were reported.