US Towns submerged; crops drowned; rivers still rising; dams threatened
Pastor Dale Morgan
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US Towns submerged; crops drowned; rivers still rising; dams threatened*
NBC News and news services
updated 6:23 p.m. PT, Tues., June. 10, 2008
LAKE DELTON, Wis. - With rivers still rising, towns submerged and crops
ruined after days of rain, the Midwest was told Wednesday to expect up
to 4 more inches through Thursday.
"A cold front approaching from the Plains later on Wednesday through
Thursday will bring the greater threat for not only heavy rain, but
severe weather," the National Weather Service stated. "Rainfall amounts
from 1 to 4 inches look likely for the Wednesday through Thursday time
frame.
"With the grounds well saturated, much of this would runoff into rivers
and streams already high with recent rainfall, leading to more river
flooding," the agency warned, citing Iowa, southeast Minnesota and
Wisconsin as flood watch areas.
Tuesday saw new levee breaks that swamped Illinois farms and homes —
part of a week of severe weather in the nation's heartland that's
claimed 15 lives and put new pressure on crop prices.
Three levee breaks along the Embarras and Wabash rivers in Illinois were
causing widespread flash flooding of nearby areas — including
Lawrenceville, a town of 5,000, and several smaller communities.
About 200 homes are in the immediately affected area, with water up to
the roofs of some of them.
Between 50 to 75 square miles of farmland was flooded along the Embarras
River, said Lawrence County Sheriff Russell Adams.
Watching dams in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, engineers kept watch over rain-deluged dams Tuesday after
a major collapse nearly emptied Lake Delton in a torrent that washed
away houses and a highway.
In Cedar Falls, Iowa, officials were readying residents and downtown
business owners to evacuate as the Cedar River threatened to spill over
a levee. The river was expected to top the levee early Wednesday,
prompting a mandatory evacuation of downtown, Mayor Jon Crews said.
In nearby Waterloo, fast-moving water swept away a railroad bridge used
to transport tractors from a John Deere factory to Cedar Rapids. It also
prompted the city to shut its downtown and close five bridges.
The widespread flooding was caused by violent, drenching weekend
thunderstorms that displaced thousands of residents in several states.
The downpours flooded corn fields and made it difficult for farmers to
plant, pushing corn prices to record highs on commodities exchanges this
week.
New storms during the night knocked out power to more than 50,000
customers in Ohio, utilities reported Tuesday. Michigan utilities said
about 247,000 customers were still blacked out because of the weekend
storms.
The rainfall also has created flooding concerns along the Mississippi
River. The National Weather Service predicted crests of 10 feet above
flood stage and higher over the next two weeks at places including
Hannibal, Mo., and Quincy and Grafton, Ill. Most of the towns are
protected by levees, but outlying areas could be flooded.
"This is major flooding," weather service hydrologist Karl Sieczynski
said of the Mississippi. He urged people in unprotected flood plain
areas to seek higher ground.
Can lake be rebuilt?
In Wisconsin, an engineer assessment team from the National Guard was
headed to Lake Delton on Tuesday to determine what would be needed to
begin repairs on an embankment along the man-made lake that gave way,
releasing a powerful current.
The 267-acre lake emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River on Monday,
washing out part of a highway, sweeping away three homes and tearing
apart two others.
Don Kubenik, 68, burst into tears after seeing the 2,800-square-foot
home he built in 2003 snapped into pieces when the lake's embankment
burst. The businessman from the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis said he
spent every weekend there.
"That house had everything you can imagine and now it's all gone," said
Kubenik, who was in West Allis when the lake overflowed. "My boat's
gone. The pier's gone. Everything is gone."
The water pouring out of the reservoir also ripped away buried sewer
lines, and a contractor started work Tuesday to stretch a temporary
sewer line across the 200-yard breach. Raw sewage was still pouring out
of the pipes and downstream to the Wisconsin River.
Lake Delton, a key part of the Wisconsin Dells tourism area, was nearly
dry by Monday afternoon. The 20 resorts that line the lake already are
reporting cancellations by people who had planned summer vacations in
the area.
Second time around for town
Residents of Gays Mills, about 70 miles southwest of Lake Delton, stood
on the edge of their ruined town, so close to finally turning the corner
before this latest flood.
For nearly a year, the tiny southwestern Wisconsin village along the
lake has struggled to survive after a devastating flood. The new deluge
may have sealed its fate.
Flash floods inundated the town of 625 over the weekend, just 10 months
after residents worked to rebuild their homes and businesses.
The swollen Kickapoo River engulfed nearly the entire town Monday
morning, forcing about 150 people to evacuate. By evening, the village
was a grid of canals with cars submerged up to their windows and parking
lots looking like lakes, just as it was in August.
"I can't believe this is happening again," said Liz Klekamp, 23, who
said she grabbed her cat and fled Monday morning when water poured into
her house. "It's really, truly sad."
Asked if this was the end of the town, Village President Larry McCarn
just stared and said: "It could be."
In waterlogged Indiana, military crews joined desperate sandbagging
operations Monday to hold back streams surging toward record levels, and
rushing water breached dams and washed out portions of highways.
Indiana officials said they could not give a dollar estimate on the
damage or the number of homes and businesses destroyed by flooding
caused by up to 11 inches of rain on Saturday. Two more inches fell Monday.
Some 200 Indiana National Guard members and 140 Marines from North
Carolina helped local emergency agencies sandbag a levee of the White
River at Elnora, about 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The White
River was forecast to crest Tuesday at nearby Newberry at 16 feet above
flood stage.
By Monday morning, flooding at eight sites in central and southern
Indiana had eclipsed levels set in the deluge of March 1913, which had
been considered Indiana's greatest flood in modern times, said Scott
Morlock, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Indiana.
The weekend's heavy rain and the threat of more heavy rain later this
week could push corn prices even higher, analysts say, likely adding to
Americans' growing grocery bills. The price of corn for July delivery
jumped to a record of nearly $7 a bushel Monday on the Chicago Board of
Trade, up from around $4 a year ago.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward
Shafer to declare farm disasters in 44 Indiana counties because of crop
and livestock losses blamed on the flooding and other storms this month.
The weekend death toll included eight in Michigan, three in Indiana and
one each in Iowa and Connecticut. Authorities said wet roads contributed
to the deaths of two motorists in separate accidents Monday in Oklahoma,
where more than 4 inches of rain fell.
Meantime, the East Coast is being baked by a heat wave. Heat watches and
advisories were in effect Tuesday from North Carolina to New Hampshire.
New York City recorded a high of 99 on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.