At least 500 residents have fled their northern Ohio homes due to rising flood waters. Local firefighters and volunteers are steering canoes and kayaks through streets awash in waist-deep water to rescue residents and pets.
Governor Ted Strickland declared nine counties in northwest and north-central Ohio in states of emergency. Findlay, Ohio, was hit especially hard; this week's storms made for the city's worst flooding in nearly 100 years. The Blanchard River at Findlay reached seven feet above the flood stage Wednesday, the highest level it has reached since 1913. And the National Weather Service warned that the river could rise an additional 6 in. or more.
In Bucyrus, 40 miles to the southeast, approximately 9 in. of rainfall since Monday has forced more than 200 people from their homes, according to the Crawford County Department of Emergency Management (CCDEM).
"Reality is starting to set in about just how much damage there is in some of the flooded areas," said CCDEM director Tim Flock.
Two storm systems, one that spanned the Upper Midwest and another from remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that hit Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, reached 22 on Tuesday, when rescue searchers found a man's body tangled in a tree near Lewiston, Minn.
Flooding continues in northern Iowa, too, as thunderstorms dump more rain across the already waterlogged region. Residents in three subdivisions along the Des Moines River were evacuated, and crews used rocks and sandbags to shore up a levee that had begun to give way, officials said. According to Fort Dodge, Iowa, spokeswoman Penny Clayton, the river crested at 14 ft, 4 ft above flood stage.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has called the governors of affected states, conveying the administration's sympathy for the loss of life and property and reiterating the department's ongoing response effort support.
Source: Washington Post
