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Labor Day Storms Dampen Midwest, N. East

Posted on: Monday, 1 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

Storms dampened Labor Day activities from the Midwest to the Northeast on Monday, pummeling Indianapolis with more than 6 inches of rain, washing out parades across Ohio and causing delays at the U.S. Open in New York.

Indiana was the hardest hit by a front that stretched across the Ohio Valley and combined with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to create heavy rain in the eastern half of the United States, the National Weather Service said.

Small boats ferried Indianapolis residents from homes cut off by floodwaters, and railroad ties floated around a mobile home park on the city's northeast side, where the water in places was up to 3 feet high.

At Ace Hardware in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, there was a run on sump pumps, sand bags and drain pipes. "We thought we'd be selling grills today," said Mike Ellis, an assistant store manager.

The weather service reported Monday afternoon that 4-10 inches of rain had fallen across parts of central Indiana since Sunday morning. Almost 6.5 inches had fallen in Indianapolis by mid-afternoon Monday, closing in on a 108-year-old record of 6.8 inches in a calendar day.

"It's the first time I've seen it come down like that," said Bonnita Megginson, whose car was one of several flooded at an apartment complex west of Indianapolis.

In Kansas, downpours that started early Saturday caused a flash flood that swept across a highway near Emporia, drowning four children as their family's minivan was dragged more than a mile. Their mother and another motorist were still missing Monday.

Meanwhile, in suburban Kansas City, authorities found the body Monday of an 18-year-old who attempted to wade in a rain-swollen creek.

Steady rain around Ohio also canceled parades statewide and an air show in Cleveland. In New York City, the rain delayed tennis at the U.S. Open for more than four hours.

Meanwhile, the rain-laden remnants of Tropical Storm Grace streamed across eastern Texas, causing scattered street flooding but no major problems.

A flash flood watch for much of north Texas was canceled as the weakening tropical depression merged with a cold front and moved toward Oklahoma and Arkansas. Flood watches and warnings remained in effect along the Gulf Coast near Houston west to Austin and San Antonio.

The Bolivar Peninsula, just east of Galveston, got the brunt of Grace with radar estimates of 10 to 12 inches of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Roeseler said.

Houston reported 4.2 inches but the city still is about 8 inches below the 31 inches of rain it normally gets by this time of year, Moller said.

"Those rains are needed down there, no doubt about it," Moller said.

Grace was the third storm to hit Texas this season. Hurricane Claudette came ashore in July, killing two people and causing an estimated $90 million in damage. A month later, Tropical Storm Erica moved ashore near Brownsville, bringing heavy rain to the Rio Grande Valley.

In Hawaii, Tropical Storm Jimena skirted the southern edge of the Big Island after being downgraded from a hurricane.

Several beaches were closed Monday because of rough waves and rip currents. Surf 10 to 15 feet high pounded the east and southeast facing shores of the Big Island. Power outages blacked out several thousand residents in scattered areas.

"Given the conditions and what we could've had, it's not too bad," Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokesman Jay Ignacio said.

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