Thousands Still Powerless as Midwest tries to Hold Off Floodwaters
USA Today
"We've been calling it 'Lake Farnsworth' all day because (the house) is floating on the water," Campagna, the architecture director for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said late Friday of the glass-walled house, which rests on four-foot stilts.
"Every piece is worth tens of thousands of dollars. They're all replaceable, but very expensive," she said.
About 120,000 ComEd customers in northern Illinois remained without power Saturday, said ComEd spokesman Joe Trost. Power to more than half a million customers had been restored since Thursday's storm, but it could take days to restore power to all customers, officials said.
The storms in Illinois were responsible for at least one death, a man struck by a wind-toppled tree, officials said. In addition, an autopsy was planned on a man found lying in more than 2 feet of water in his basement in suburban Inverness, officials said.
Powerful storms rolling through the Upper Midwest over most of the past week caused disastrous floods from southeastern Minnesota to Ohio that were blamed for at least 17 other deaths.
Rain had most stopped falling Saturday in northern Illinois as a line of storms moved eastward and southward, but flooding was still a danger for hundreds of thousands of people who live near swollen creeks and rivers.
"There's still a chance of rainfall, but we're not expecting as much and the potential for flash flooding is going away," said Casey Sullivan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The flood alert level for northern Lake County was raised to red, the highest, as the Fox River approached 50-year levels, with flooding possible this weekend when water from rain-drenched Wisconsin arrives downstream.
In Dyer, Ind., southeast of Chicago, authorities evacuated St. Margaret Mercy Hospital as water seeped into the building from a nearby creek. About 70 patients were being moved out, spokeswoman Maria Ramos said.
Police and firefighters went door to door in Dyer telling people to leave.
In southern Michigan, more than 100,000 customers were without power Saturday, utilities said. Powerful storms a day earlier spawned at least one tornado that destroyed several homes and barns in Fenton, and minor injuries were reported. Most of the city's 10,000 residents lost power Friday.
Damage in Fenton was extensive, Mayor Sue Osborn said Saturday. "I have seen houses that have trees go right through them," she said. Only residents were being allowed into the city, she said.
As many as three to five tornadoes may have hit southeastern Michigan, the weather service said. The region also had flooded highways and fallen power lines and trees.
Photo: Many streets in Ottawa, Ohio were covered with water on Friday. Officials blamed flooding for for two deaths in northern Ohio. (By J.D. Pooley, Getty Images)
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator R. David Paulison surveyed damage Friday in Rushford, Minn., especially hard hit by this week's flooding. Mayor Les Ladewig said about half of Rushford's 760 homes were damaged, including 248 that were destroyed and 91 with serious damage.
About 1,500 homes were damaged around Minnesota. Paulison said FEMA recovery centers should be running early next week in the three counties where President Bush declared disasters Thursday.
Paulison also visited Wisconsin, where flooding destroyed 44 homes and damaged more than 1,400, most of them in the southwestern part of the state.
In DeKalb, Ill., 50 miles west of Chicago, the Kishwaukee River reached near-record levels, spilling over its 15-foot levees, flooding residential areas and blocking roads.
About 600 residents of DeKalb and nearby Sycamore were displaced, said DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki. Northern Illinois University's flooded DeKalb campus was closed.
Some flooding occurred in the area around Prospect Heights, six miles north of O'Hare.
"The river is so quiet for so many years," Mark Bednarowicz, 57, said as he filled sandbags for his home. "For everybody it's a shock it (flooding) happens. ... Everybody's scared."
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2007-08-24-midwest-storms_N.htm