Midwest Floods, East Coast Sizzles

Displaced Residents Assess Storm Damage; Heat Advisories In Effect Along Eastern Seaboard

(CBS/AP)  Engineers kept watch over this rain-deluged state's dams Tuesday after a major collapse nearly emptied Lake Delton in a torrent that washed away houses and a highway.

The Lake Delton breach was caused by violent, drenching weekend thunderstorms that threatened the survival of the tiny Wisconsin town of Gays Mills and displaced thousands of Indiana residents. The stormy weather was blamed for 15 deaths in the Midwest and elsewhere.

Also, the East Coast is being baked by a heat wave. Heat watches and advisories were in effect Tuesday from North Carolina to New Hampshire. New York City recorded a high of 99 on Monday at La Guardia Airport, with 96 at the heart of the city in Central Park.

Scores of schools around the Northeast planned early closings for a second day in classrooms that lack air conditioning. Agencies in Wilmington, Del., appealed for donations of fans and air conditioners for needy residents.

In the past two days, records broke in nearly 50 places including northwest Georgia, which sizzled at 103 degrees, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.

One engineering assessment team from the Wisconsin National Guard headed to Lake Delton to determine what equipment and supplies will be needed to repair the gaping hole that let water from the 267-acre lake carve a new channel to the Wisconsin River on Monday.

Other crews were going to dams throughout the southern and western part of the state to assess damage.

They also were monitoring several dams that were seeping or in danger of failing, state Emergency Management spokeswoman Jessica Iverson said.

However, no significant damage had been reported at any of the dams, she said.

The downpours in states like Iowa, Illinois and Indiana flooded corn fields and made it difficult for farmers to plant, pushing corn prices to record highs on commodities exchanges this week.

New storms during the night knocked out power to more than 50,000 customers in Ohio, utilities reported Tuesday. Michigan utilities said about 247,000 customers were still blacked out because of the weekend storms.

The collapse of the embankment at Lake Delton swept away three houses and tore apart two others.

Don Kubenik, 68, burst into tears after seeing the 2,800-square-foot home he built in 2003 snapped into pieces. The businessman from the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis said he spent every weekend there.

"That house had everything you can imagine and now it's all gone," said Kubenik, who was in West Allis when the lake overflowed. "My boat's gone. The pier's gone. Everything is gone."

Lake Delton, a key part of the Wisconsin Dells tourism area, was nearly dry by Monday afternoon. The 20 resorts that line the lake already are reporting cancellations by people who had planned summer vacations in the area.

About 70 miles southwest of Lake Delton, the village of Gays Mills was inundated during the weekend, just 10 months after another devastating flood left residents working to rebuild homes and businesses.

The swollen Kickapoo River engulfed nearly the entire town Monday morning, forcing about 150 of the 625 residents to evacuate. By evening, the village was a grid of canals with cars submerged up to their windows, just as it was last August.

"I can't believe this is happening again," said Liz Klekamp, 23, who said she grabbed her cat and fled Monday morning when water poured into her house. "It's really, truly sad."

Asked if this was the end of the town, Village President Larry McCarn just stared and said: "It could be."

In waterlogged Indiana, military crews joined desperate sandbagging operations Monday to hold back streams surging toward record levels, and rushing water breached dams and washed out portions of highways.

Indiana officials said they could not give a dollar estimate on the damage or the number of homes and businesses destroyed by flooding caused by up to 11 inches of rain on Saturday. Two more inches fell Monday.

Some 200 Indiana National Guard members and 140 Marines from North Carolina helped local emergency agencies sandbag a levee of the White River at Elnora, about 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The White River was forecast to crest Tuesday at nearby Newberry at 16 feet above flood stage.

Flooding in parts of Indiana had eclipsed levels set in the deluge of March 1913, which had been considered Indiana's greatest flood in modern times, said Scott Morlock, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Indiana.

The weekend's heavy rain and the threat of more heavy rain later this week could push corn prices even higher, analysts say, likely adding to Americans' growing grocery bills. The price of corn for July delivery jumped to a record of nearly $7 a bushel Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade, up from around $4 a year ago.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Shafer to declare farm disasters in 44 Indiana counties because of crop and livestock losses blamed on the flooding and other storms this month.

The weekend death toll included eight in Michigan, three in Indiana and one each in Iowa and Connecticut. Authorities said wet roads contributed to the deaths of two motorists in separate accidents Monday in Oklahoma, where more than 4 inches of rain fell.

[bobnjersey]

[We often see 115 here in Vegas. What would these east coast wimps do in that case?]
[Posted by formrusmcsgt at 07:10 PM : Jun 10, 2008]

ahhh ... move to someplace that isn''t 115 degrees.

[al2008-2009]

I*m appalled at the Minnesota governor*s lack of response to the global warming thunderstorms, tornadoes, and floods. We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these storms and 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 progressive 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.

[ubrew12]

nnncola said: "we are still emerging from an ice age...global warming is a hoax. "

If I told you, you were about to get hit by a tidal wave, you''d tell me the tide''s been rising for six hours.

Different time scales.

[ubrew12]

formrusmcsgt said: "We often see 115 here in Vegas. What would these east coast wimps do in that case?"
Probably dial down their humidity to match yours.
Try 90 and 90.

[formrusmcsgt]

I always have to chuckle at these "heat wave" stories.

They make 95 degrees sound like Armageddon.

We often see 115 here in Vegas.

What would these east coast wimps do in that case?

[rheola-2009]

Posted by nnncola at 05:54 PM : Jun 10, 2008


Strange how some know it all, and so many dedicated scientists have it so wrong.

Let us all sit back and confidentally take notice of those who know it all.

[lovesamerica]

There Is Global warming,what can be done about it,if anything is the issue. Our planet is one little rock in a universe of little rocks. We as Humans cannot possibly believe that we can do whatever we want to our planet and not bring about horrible consequeces. Corn Bio fuel is actually horrible for the environment,and it has taken much need food from the people who need it to survive. Things are getting goofy, I too don''t think people should put houses on stilts along river banks, rivers change everyyear..but if you do, beprepared to bail yourself out. I have to shovel myself out from under snow every winter, I know that and this is my home.

[graphdesign]

For the person who asked...Lake Delton is in Wisconsin. It is/was in the popular Wisconsin Dells area where all of the waterparks and lakefront resorts are.(Noah''s Ark, Tommy Bartlett''s, ect...)

[rushlimpdrug]

"(CBS/AP) Engineers kept watch over this rain-deluged state''''s dams Tuesday after a major collapse nearly emptied Lake Delton in a torrent that washed away houses and a highway."
Nice lead paragraph. What state are we talking about?
Posted by barbaraf4 at 03:38 PM


It all depends on what state
you are in when the
house floats by.

[nnncola]

we are still emerging from an ice age... climate patterns change global warming is a hoax. the temp may be getting warmer but its a cyclical change...maybe sped up a tiny bit by people

[kamsack50]

When it''s hot, they report it, but when it''s cold they don''t.
Washington state and Oregon are as abnormally cold as the east coast is hot. Why do they avoid mention of that? The North American weather always does this balancing of east and west.
Why don''t they educate the readers to that?
Because they want to feed global warming panic.

[underdogus]

cornbiker, i have my degree in geology..... and you?
Posted by tulcak at 04:54 PM : Jun 10, 2008
always capitalise "I" you *** f.aggott

[bobnjersey]

[i wonder why it''''s news when the east coast "bakes" under high temps and high humidity when it''''s an every day occurence during the summer where i live? i don''''t see national news media covering the heat wave here....]
[Posted by whatsup49 at 04:31 PM : Jun 10, 2008]

why are you wondering? you''ve answered your own question.

if it''s normal it''s not news worthy ... if it''s unusual it is. that''s why they call it ''new''(s).

[tulcak]

cornbiker, i have my degree in geology..... and you?

[iwillslander]

If us in the northeast had a similar even happen it wouldn''''t phase us. We are more advanced, more sophisticated and definately more intelligent. It wouldn''''t be as catastophic as it is to you simple farmers and hillbillies who don''''t understand technology.

Posted by jboxton at 03:37 PM : Jun 10, 2008

I don''t see in the article above or from the news I have read that any one is being phased in the midwest. In fact, everyone seems to be rallying around to fight what may be a 500 HUNDRED YEAR FLOOD. This is not something that is simply avoided or happens because we are devoid of technology. It is no different than the rare yet devasting Northeast Hurricane or a severe winter storm. Unfortunately, you are doing nothing to back up your statement of superior intelligence in the Northeast, so perhaps you should go work on the "Big Dig" and other brilliant projects. In fact it seems that the Northeast has caused alot of the recent financial/credit crisis and asset/commodity bubbles- brilliant.

[whatsup49]

i wonder why it''s news when the east coast "bakes" under high temps and high humidity when it''s an every day occurence during the summer where i live? i don''t see national news media covering the heat wave here....

[mrkuren]

Destruction breeds creation. Creation breeds destruction. Humans just keep breeding and breeding, and asking stupid questions like "WHY?!".

[acolton1]

Most of these people who are getting flooded out live in a flood plane and we as humans have tried to confine rivers and streams to small contained banks and when Mother Nature chooses to dump 4 to 10 inches of rain in 36 hours the water has to go some place. If these people rebuild in the same area they need to be required to build their house on a small raised hill so next time it floods they are above the rivers crest.

[abigail70]

Oh, FFS. You act like this could never happen if we were perfectly ecologically responsible. Get a life, and while you''re at it, find a heart and some sympathy for these folks. What - floods and hot weather NEVER happened decades before we had pollution and our other issues? Lecture someone else, and while you''re at it, try not to break anything while falling off of your ivory podium.

[tulcak]

no... nothing is happening to our climate and our planet... go back to sleep.... sleeep.... sleeeeepp....
we don''t need to change anything about the way we live on this planet... not a thing.... its only just begun....