Severe Storm, Flooding Moves Into Ohio
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 21, 12:25 PM EDT
*Severe Storm, Flooding Moves Into Ohio*
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
RUSHFORD, Minn. (AP) -- A powerful storm system that swamped the upper
Midwest and killed at least six people moved into Ohio on Tuesday as
weary Minnesota residents returned to their water-logged homes. For
many, it was a surreal scene.
Orange Xs marked buildings that had been searched for survivors. Canoes
lay in the streets. At a campground in Houston County, picnic tables
hung from trees.
Mud several inches deep covered streets in parts of Rushford, and some
sidewalks had collapsed.
"Some people had to cut holes in their roofs to get out, the water was
so deep," said Jack O'Donnell, chief deputy with the Fillmore County
Sheriff's Office.
The storm was one of two systems that flooded towns in the Midwest and
southern Plains over the weekend. The second, the remnants of Tropical
Storm Erin, killed six people in Oklahoma, eight in Texas and one in
Missouri, where up to 11 inches of rain fell in a few hours Monday.
Tuesday morning, heavy rain in Ohio caused flooding that closed a
seven-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in the northwest part of the state,
the Highway Patrol said.
Nearby, motorists were urged to stay out of Wyandot County because of
extensive flooding caused by more than 8 inches of rain, and authorities
were busy rescuing motorists from stalled cars, sheriff's Lt. Neil
Riedlinger said.
Water was 3 feet deep Tuesday in downtown Carey, Ohio, and a local
nursing home had to be evacuated, Riedlinger said. Firefighters in the
north-central Ohio town of Bucyrus used a boat to rescue families from
flooded homes.
In Minnesota, divers and the crew of a National Guard helicopter
searched for Jered Lorenz, 37, whose overturned car was found lodged in
the rocks along a creek near Lewiston.
Fifteen miles to the south, the National Guard controlled access to the
city of Rushford, escorting residents in just long enough for them to
grab pets, clothing, medicine and other emergency supplies.
Rushford City administrator Windy Block said residents may be allowed
back for good Tuesday if electrical power is restored and the storm
sewer works. She estimated that at least a third of the town's 1,800
residents suffered damage from the flooding of Rush Creek.
Hundreds of people fled their homes in southwestern Wisconsin as the
deluge turned the countryside in Vernon, Crawford and Richland counties
into bogs, drowned crops and strained dams nearly to the breaking point.
Damage estimates hit nearly $30 million and were expected to keep climbing.
Southwestern Wisconsin was under another flash flood watch Tuesday night
and Wednesday, with a chance of rain through Friday, said National
Weather Service meteorologist Rod Swerman.
The town of Soldiers Grove, Wis., lost part of a road to flooding. In
nearby Gays Mills, flooding filled downtown with waist-deep, peanut
butter-colored water. Mason Evans Jr. said water was 8 feet deep in his
house in Gays Mills.
"It broke me," Evans said. "I lost everything."
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On the Net:
Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com/