CHICAGO, March 20: Spring flooding swamped much of the US Midwest on Thursday, after heavy rains swelled rivers, swallowed roadways and filled homes and businesses with murky waters.
At least 13 deaths were blamed on the rain and floods and scores more were plucked from rushing rivers or rescued from their homes by boat.
Sandbag barriers set up to protect homes and businesses as the rains began to fall on Monday and Tuesday were overwhelmed as floodwaters crested on Thursday.
Some 15 states from Texas to Ohio remained under a flood advisory, the National Weather Service said.
But with no more rain predicted for the next few days people ought to have a chance to mop up the damage as soon as the waters recede.
“There is some rain in the forecast by the weekend though it appears it’ll be mostly focused on Texas so it shouldn’t have any impact on the areas that are in flood,” hydrologist Ben Weiger said.
“This is going to affect some of the major navigational rivers probably until the first or second week of April.” Missouri was among the hardest hit states and the governor declared a state of emergency after floods washed out bridges, breached dams and spilled over river banks.
The body of a man was found on Wednesday about two miles downstream from where he was swept into a creek.“He was going down the creek screaming and hollering,” said Lawrence County emergency management chief Mike Rowe.
A highway worker was killed while setting up a barrier on a flooded roadway while another person died after being swept from a bridge by high water, a man was killed when floodwaters pushed his car off the road and a fifth person was found dead in his flooded truck, authorities said.
Ohio was also hard-hit, though only one fatality was reported: an elderly woman found drowned in her basement.
“There has been some significant flooding in the state but the rains have moved out of the state so now we’re waiting for the water to go down,” said Tamarra McBride, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
McBride said the flooding was typical for springtime when the ground is still saturated from the winter’s heavy snowfall, the remains of which were melted by the rains.
Two men were missing in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept from bridges by floodwaters, some 200 homes were evacuated and a number were stranded by floodwaters.
“We’ve got several evacuations going on in numerous communities and transportation issues — bridges closed, roads closed,” said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
“Is it the worst we’ve ever seen? It’s too early to tell. We’ll have to wait for it to dry up so we can see the damage.” Five people in Kentucky were killed in three car crashes during the storm and Texas police were searching for a missing teenager.
Two other bodies were also reportedly found in southern Illinois after a pickup truck was swept off a rural road.—AFP
