Floods Bring Havoc to Midwest As Another Storm System Looms
By RYAN J FOLEY
By Ryan J. Foley
The Associated Press
LAKE DELTON, Wis.
An earthen dam along a man-made lake gave way under severe flooding Monday, unleashing a powerful current that ripped several homes off their foundations and carried them down the Wisconsin River.
Floodwater threatened dams across the Midwest, and military crews joined desperate sandbagging operations to hold back Indiana streams surging toward record levels. Stormy weekend weather was blamed for 10 deaths, most in the Midwest.
In Wisconsin, an embankment forming the side of the man-made Lake Delton failed, and the water poured out into the nearby Wisconsin River. The 245-acre lake nearly emptied, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others. About 20 resorts surround the lake .
A new storm system was headed toward the Ohio Valley from the southern Plains, and the National Weather Service said as much as 3 inches of rain could fall on already waterlogged Indiana late Monday.
The weather service posted a tornado warning for south-central Illinois and a severe thunderstorm warning for Indiana.
About 200 Indiana National Guard members and 140 Marines and sailors joined local emergency agencies Monday in sandbagging a levee of the White River at Elnora, about 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The White River was forecast to crest today 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 March 1913, which had been considered Indiana’s greatest flood in modern times.
President Bush late Sunday declared a major disaster in 29 Indiana counties. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said nearly a third of his state’s 99 counties need federal help.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle had declared 30 counties in a state of emergency by noon Monday.
response to flooding
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday it would close a 250- mile stretch of the Mississippi River – from Fulton, Ill., to Clarksville, Mo. – as soon as Thursday because of flooding, bringing barge traffic to a halt for up to two weeks.
Originally published by BY RYAN J. FOLEY.
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