CHICAGO, Aug 23: Three people at a bus stop were electrocuted in a lightning strike as the death toll mounted Thursday from storms, floods and a smothering heat wave battering the central United States.

Mudslides and murky floodwaters hampered recovery efforts in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin where at least 23 people were killed after a week of heavy rains that prompted dramatic roof-top rescues.

Meanwhile, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama continued to wither under a record-breaking heat wave blamed for the death of at least 25 people.

Recovery workers in Oklahoma were searching Thursday for the body of a high school student who was sucked into floodwaters while running with his cross country team.

Six other people were confirmed dead in the state after the remnants of tropical storm Erin dumped heavy rain there and triggered flooding over the weekend that continued to wreck havoc on the state.

Three people were killed in Madison, Wisconsin Wednesday afternoon when lightening struck a utility pole and knocked a live wire into a deep puddle at a bus stop, police said.

The Ohio river breached its banks after days of heavy rains and swamped cities and towns across the state. A 74-year-old man died after floodwaters knocked over a gasoline can and the pilot light of a nearby water heater set the gas ablaze.

Texas was spared the brunt of hurricane Dean's wrath but was still cleaning up from the damage wrought by tropical storm Erin and months of endless rain which caused six deaths last week.

This brought the state's flash-flood deaths to 40 so far this year, which ties the record set in 1989, said Victor Murphy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Thirteen deaths were reported in Memphis, Tennessee and a dozen were reported in Alabama, officials said.

Drought conditions are so severe that the town of Franklin has begun shutting off water service to homes which violate water restrictions and is considering banning restaurants from serving water to customers who don't specifically ask for it, the Tennessean newspaper reported.—AFP