Midwest Storms Bring Flooding, Kill 3

Tornado Touches Down In Omaha; Thousands Without Power In Ind., Michigan

(CBS/AP)  At least three people are dead after severe weekend storms in the Midwest.

Two Michigan newspaper carriers drowned this morning when their car was submerged along a washed-out road.

Another person was killed in Indiana, where record flooding is continuing along several rivers.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from Indiana homes, a hospital and a flooded nursing home.

In Nebraska, the National Weather Service has confirmed at least one category EF 2 tornado touched down in a neighborhood in west Omaha.

Emergency management teams are reporting no deaths or major injuries, but dozens of homes have been damaged including some that may be total losses.

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey toured the damage in the Millard area and said, "I'd say it was a miracle no one got killed."

Meanwhile, rain continues to fall today in Wisconsin. Strong storms there yesterday brought baseball-size hail and blew roofs off homes. At least six people were injured.


Michigan Thunderstorms Bring Flooding; 2 Drown

The National Weather Service issued thunderstorm warnings for six Michigan counties this afternoon, hours after two people drowned in a flooded creek.

The victims were delivering newspapers for The Grand Rapids Press when their car sank in a creek swollen from weekend of thunderstorms that continued this afternoon.

The storms blacked out at least 232,000 Michigan homes and businesses, and about 42,000 remain without power today.

The fatal accident happened about 4 a.m. today near Lake Michigan in Allegan County's Saugatuck Township - about 40 miles southwest of Grand Rapids.


1 Dead, 1 Missing In Indiana Flooding

Rescuers in boats were still plucking people from rising waters Sunday, and parts of Indiana braced for more flooding that has caused at least one death.

A young child is carried through a flooded yard to high ground as the overflowing Bluff Creek forced evacuations in Indianapolis on Saturday, June 7, 2008.

As much as 11 inches of rain swamped the state Saturday, flooding homes, threatening dams and closing several roads and highways. One person drowned, and 23 of the state's 92 counties were declared disasters, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Another person also was reported missing after falling off a boat in a flooded area, state police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said.

In Morgan County, southwest of Indianapolis, about 150 residents were taken out of a flooded nursing home. Floodwaters that were moving south to eventually drain into the Ohio River prompted officials to evacuate more than 250 patients and employees from Columbus Regional Hospital in southern Indiana. Workers pumped water out of the basement, and a couple inches of mud covered the first floor of the facility that was forced to close.

Jack Elkins, 67, has lived in Columbus since 1963 and said he has never experienced such serious flooding.

His and other condominiums near the hospital were inundated with water in a matter of minutes Saturday night, he said. Once the storm drains filled up, it took 15 minutes for about 8 inches of water to ruin his place.

"It looked like a river in front of my house," he said as he took a break from ripping up carpeting and flooring.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said many of the flood victims he spoke to told him similar stories about how quickly floodwaters rose, catching them off guard.

"This thing came on fast with such a radical deluge of water that people were describing going from a feeling of security to waist-deep water in a matter or 15 or 20 minutes," he told reporters Sunday.

Elkins estimated it would take at least $25,000 to fix his house, since he can do the work himself. He and his neighbors do not have flood insurance because the area has never dealt with the problem.

[grammawhamma]

Well, we''''re looking at a repeat. Fifteen years later we''''re staring another "hundred year flood" in the face.

Tell me climate change is a fairy tale.
Posted by creeper00 at 06:22 PM : Jun 08, 2008

Ummmmm...aren''t you contradicting yourself? Climates are cyclic as alot of us have been trying to tell the Algoraphobics.

[feelfree4u]

Why is the front page littered with an ad from this oily-faced petro-pirate from the kleptocrats at Exxon-Mobil?

Does CBS Newz have no shame at all?

[creeper00]

And it''s repeating today. With five more days of rain in the forecast.

Do you remember 1993? That was the year most of the Midwest was under water from incessant rain. Downtown Grand Forks burned because it was so flooded the fire department could do nothing.

Well, we''re looking at a repeat. Fifteen years later we''re staring another "hundred year flood" in the face.

Tell me climate change is a fairy tale.