Midwest Storms Cause Flooding, Tornadoes

The Coast Guard Responds To Indiana Floods; Tornadoes Touch Down In Wisconsin, Chicago

(AP)  Severe storms flooded central Indiana with as much as 10 inches of rain Saturday and spawned tornadoes that ripped up roofs and flipped tractor-trailers in Wisconsin and the Chicago suburbs.

The floods in Indiana threatened dams, inundated highways and forced the Coast Guard to rescue residents from swamped homes. To the northwest, Chicago-area residents ran for cover as tornadoes touched down throughout the region.

Wisconsin had a few minor tornado injuries, and at least one injury was reported near Chicago. Indiana had been spared any reported deaths or injuries due to flooding.

"At this point, mercifully, we believe all Hoosiers are secure," Gov. Mitch Daniels said at a news conference. "We hope that will continue."

Daniels declared an emergency in 10 counties as the Coast Guard was called in from the Great Lakes to help with flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Ninety percent of the small town of Paragon, southwest of Indianapolis, was underwater, State Homeland Security Director Joe Wainscott said.

Water reached the first floor of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, but no patients had to be moved, county Commissioner Tom Kite said, and cars were submerged up to their windshields in the county government building parking lot.

"We have dams failing in the Prince's Lakes area," threatening the town of Nineveh, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, Kite said.

Indiana State Police reported evacuations in the Lake Lemon area about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington. Dams near Gold Point were close to collapse, police said.

Near Martinsville, southwest of Indianapolis, Ben Pace watched motorboats rescuing neighbors. The rain didn't appear that bad when he woke up, Pace said, but he then watched water rise 6 to 8 inches in his backyard shed.

"Then I realized that it's worse than it's ever been," he said.

A rescuer came by boat to his front door to get him. He managed to grab some clothes and his dog, leaving the home with knee-deep water in his bedroom.

Interstate 70 was closed in Clay County in west-central Indiana, and Interstate 65 and another major route, U.S. 31, both were closed near Franklin.

Residents of Helmsburg, a town of about 6,000 just 40 miles south of Indianapolis, were taken by bus to a YMCA in Nashville, said Wayne Freeman, Brown County Red Cross chairman.

In western Indiana, water more than a foot deep surrounded homes on Terre Haute's east side. U.S. 41 was the only route open into Terre Haute, and it was down to one lane by mid-afternoon.

J.D. Kesler, deputy director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, said more than 200 people had to be rescued from their homes, vehicles and nursing homes there.

Peter Perdoue, 35, a mortgage broker from Terre Haute, heard a trickle Saturday morning and checked his daughter's basement room. The water had risen above the window.

"It was almost like I was standing inside an aquarium," he said.

Within a few hours, sewage started backing into his basement, and it wasn't long before the waters had filled his basement up to the 10-foot ceiling.

More than 30,000 electricity customers lost power, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission said.

Near Chicago, Will County Sheriff's Department spokesman Pat Barry said a tornado damaged several homes in the Wilmington area and toppled trees and power lines.

A person was injured on Interstate 57 in the southern suburbs, and a swath of the major highway closed as authorities worked to clear overturned trucks, said state Trooper Mark Dorencz.

Tornadoes were also reported in Lake County, north of the city, and in Livingston County, to the southwest.

Central and southeastern Wisconsin were pelted with baseball-size hail in a storm that blew roofs off homes and toppled trees and power lines. Heavy rains also pelted the area, causing flash flooding.

Authorities said a camper was hurt in Rio and four more people suffered minor injuries after a house had its windows blown out near the Village of Randolph. Authorities also said a tornado spun a police car around.

Flooding built up around Milwaukee, where water as deep as 2 feet in roads caused parked cars to drift and closed parts of an interstate highway.

On the south side of town, two vacant buildings partially collapsed because of the heavy rains, authorities said. No injuries were reported there.

[ada_nicole04]

It''s nice that this story was published??

Indiana has just suffered a catastrophic week! We had 2 tornadoes touch at our military base (Camp Atterbury) in a 10 minute span causing 18 million dollars in damage. Then 4 days later, we had flooding that no one has seen here since 1913. We had 10 inches of rain pour in less than a day in most of Southern Indiana... not in just a few areas- practically everywhere. Some lakes, creeks, rivers, etc. rose over 7 feet causing major damage to homes, boats, and roads.. We not only had a few roads closed due to water (which never happens here either), we had major highways and interstates closed. We had roads completely washed away in many areas of of many counties. We didn''t have just a few dams break either, we had 3 dams bust in a single county. This article was the tip of the iceburg when it comes to covering all the events. Cities and towns were completely evacuated.

So I''m sorry for Southern Illinois, but the damage there cannot compare to what was suffered here. Obviously this is the case, otherwise CBS, NBC/ MSNBC, ABC, and all other major production companies would have had their reporters cover Southern Illi instead.

[al2008-2009]

I*m appalled at the governor of Indiana*s lack of response to the global warming thunderstorms and tornadoes. We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these tornadoes, and mother earth continues to suffer while the governor*s office refuses to go forward and do what*s right for mother earth.
.
How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible regulations into effect? How long must we wait until we beef up our corn ethanol production? At least Obama wants to cut c02 pollution by 80%; he is definitely our best hope. As Obama has recently stated on Earth Day, we will save the planet. We will change our economy to a green economy, eliminate our current anti-progressive economy, and eliminate c02 pollution by 80% in our generation. This is a change we all definitely need, a much needed change for the better.
.
We the people call upon the governor to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these tornadoes and storms continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will see these storms cease. We need action now

[neobrian-2009]

Who Does this '' MANipulating ''?
They must have Vast resources & knowledge,..

I personally believe that this is being caused by weather manipulation, not global warming.

Posted by renrivers at 08:48 AM : Jun 08, 2008
And what Is this motive ?

[Renegade.Rivers]

Well its nice that CBS got part of the story out, but there is just as much going on here in Southern Illinois. We had roads closed yesterday in the surrounding area, that in all my born days have never been closed by water, and that is nearly 60 years. We have also had the dam on one lake break, another is threating to break and levees along both the Little Wabash, and the Embarrass River are breaking. Several towns are in danger of being inundated with flood waters that haven''t been flooded in my lifetime. Many homes to the north of us have been damaged from high winds and in some cases possible tornadoes. Rainfall amounts in the area ranged from 3.5 inches to as much as 8.0 inches with a few areas getting as much as 10 inches.

What should be as concerning is that there are hardly any crops planted. Thousands and thousands of acres have not even been plowed or disk yet, to make them ready for planting. Of course, some farmers use no-till, but even they have not been able to get into the fields. In our county and the surrounding counties, hardly any corn crop is planted, and the dates to plant corn are nearing if not passed. This doesn''t look good for prices at the grocery store. Meat prices may very well go sky high, as will many produce products. Take note.






I personally believe that this is being caused by weather manipulation, not global warming.