Soggy Midwest Faces Another Soaking

Peeking into her waterlogged basement, Gail Leatherman didn't break down until she saw a soggy photo taken for her 17th wedding anniversary.

She salvaged the picture, but not her treasured Christmas decorations. Next door, her son lost all of his 1-year-old boy's winter clothes.

And that wasn't the worst of it.

"A year ago, our insurer told us we could drop our flood insurance," she said. "So we did."

Water from the worst flood in nearly a century in this northwest Ohio city began receding Thursday, allowing homeowners to get a look at the damage and try to dry out.

Flooding that swamped streets, homes and highways in northern Ohio was repeated across the Upper Midwest.

Floods in Wisconsin were blamed for the tragic deaths of a mother and child who were electrocuted along with a man who tried to help them when lightning struck near a bus stop on a flooded Madison street, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

The death toll from this week's heavy rains and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week also rose to at least 26.

(CBS)

But the severe weather threat wasn't over.

Another storm system was moving over Iowa and southern Minnesota on Thursday, and much of Ohio was under a heat advisory, with temperatures expected to reach the upper 90s. In the southwest corner of the state, Cincinnati schools closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.

In one Ohio county alone, more than 700 homes were severely damaged or destroyed by flooding, said Strickland. Across the Midwest, the count was in the thousands.

Residents hoped to return to their water-soaked homes in Findlay, Ohio, on Thursday after heavy downpours brought the city's deepest flood waters in nearly 100 years. The river crested Wednesday, but it came within an inch of setting an all-time record, reports Bowers.

Some were still stuck in a shelter where 200 people slept Wednesday night. They were among those who had a foot or more of water in their homes.

John Treece could only wade to within a block of his home and saw water still covering the porch. His basement flooded in January, but it was nothing like this.

"We thought that would be the worst case scenario," Treece said.

He and his wife didn't have insurance. "Financially, we couldn't afford it," he said. "I'm out of work."

Most homeowners' insurance policies do not cover flood damage. While flood insurance is available through the federal government, there is a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect.

Flood victims may apply for state aid, limited to a maximum of $1,500 per family in areas deemed to be in a state of emergency. So far, Strickland has declared nine Ohio counties to be in a state of emergency. Federal aid also is available if the president declares an area a disaster.

Pam Deal, whose house was still unreachable, didn't have insurance either.

"We lost everything in my daughter's room," she said. "Her bed, her clothes. She loves her clothes."

In a neighborhood a few blocks from the Blanchard River, water pumped out of homes rushed down the streets.

Leatherman put together a makeshift contraption of plastic tubes and hoses to draw water from her basement. She and her husband will likely drain their retirement savings to replace the furnace and water heater.

On her porch, sat an inflatable pool that her son turned into a raft a day before.

The unmistakable stench of sewage rose from her basement.

"We're not alone in this," she said as sweated dripped from her glasses in the 90-degree heat. "Everybody's suffering."

Floodwater still filled a few downtown stores near the river. At Uncle Buck's bar, Larry MacKenzie carried out 16-foot planks from a wood floor that had just been put in a few years ago.

Water rose through a crawl space, buckling the floor inside the Mardi Gras-themed bar. A Hurricane Katrina souvenir T-shirt hung on the wall.

The damage surprised MacKenzie, who was helping the bar's manager with the cleanup.

"I was thinking it would take only a few days," he said. "But it may be a couple of weeks."