June 10, 2008

NBC News and news services

LAKE DELTON, Wis. - With rivers still rising, towns submerged and crops ruined after days of rain, the Midwest was told Wednesday to expect up to 4 more inches through Thursday.

Photo: This aerial photo from video released by Brent Perrott, Lawrence Co. Emergency Management Agency, shows flooded farmland near a levee break along the Embarras River near the Indiana line in southern Illinois Tuesday, June 10l, 2008. Officials say levee breaks in the area are forcing some evacuations, and the flooded area so far is mostly farmland and prairie. (Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency via AP)

"A cold front approaching from the Plains later on Wednesday through Thursday will bring the greater threat for not only heavy rain, but severe weather," the National Weather Service stated. "Rainfall amounts from 1 to 4 inches look likely for the Wednesday through Thursday time frame.

"With the grounds well saturated, much of this would runoff into rivers and streams already high with recent rainfall, leading to more river flooding," the agency warned, citing Iowa, southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin as flood watch areas.

Tuesday saw new levee breaks that swamped Illinois farms and homes — part of a week of severe weather in the nation's heartland that's claimed 15 lives and put new pressure on crop prices.

Three levee breaks along the Embarras and Wabash rivers in Illinois were causing widespread flash flooding of nearby areas — including Lawrenceville, a town of 5,000, and several smaller communities.

About 200 homes are in the immediately affected area, with water up to the roofs of some of them.

Between 50 to 75 square miles of farmland was flooded along the Embarras River, said Lawrence County Sheriff Russell Adams.

Photo: A Farmstead located West of Reedsburg, Wisconsin is mostly underwater Monday June 9, 2008. An earthen dam along a man-made lake gave way under severe flooding Monday, unleashing a powerful current that ripped several homes off their foundations and down the Wisconsin River. (Steve Apps / AP)

In Wisconsin, engineers kept watch over rain-deluged dams Tuesday after a major collapse nearly emptied Lake Delton in a torrent that washed away houses and a highway.

And officials in Cedar Falls, Iowa, were telling residents and business owners in downtown to begin preparing for a possible evacuation as the Cedar River keeps rising.

The river reached more than a foot above the record 98-foot crest in 1999 on Tuesday morning. The downtown area in the town of 36,000 was blocked off and no one was being allowed in.

City Administrator Susan Stout told MSNBC that the river could top the town's 102-foot levee late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

"It does not look good," Stout said.

The widespread flooding was caused by violent, drenching weekend thunderstorms that displaced thousands of residents in several states.

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

Photo: Tee the goat watches on as his owner Tim Woods, center, and Corey Woods try to repair a flooded generator at their home in New Hartford, Iowa, Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Tee has not left his owners side since the flood waters struck the town. (AP /David K Purdy).

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 rainfall also has created flooding concerns along the Mississippi River. The National Weather Service predicted crests of 10 feet above flood stage and higher over the next two weeks at places including Hannibal, Mo., and Quincy and Grafton, Ill. Most of the towns are protected by levees, but outlying areas could be flooded.

"This is major flooding," weather service hydrologist Karl Sieczynski said of the Mississippi. He urged people in unprotected flood plain areas to seek higher ground.

CAN LAKE BE REBUILT?

In Wisconsin, an engineer assessment team from the National Guard was headed to Lake Delton on Tuesday to determine what would be needed to begin repairs on an embankment along the man-made lake that gave way, releasing a powerful current.

The 267-acre lake emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River on Monday, washing out part of a highway, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others.

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

Photo: A fawn struggles against the fast flowing White River as it tries to walk along the levee on Monday, June 9, 2008 in Edwardsport, Ind. The fawn was swept off the levee, but managed to swim to a bank and make its way from the water. (AP /Vincennes Sun-Commercial, Kevin J. Kilmer).

"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."

The water pouring out of the reservoir also ripped away buried sewer lines, and a contractor started work Tuesday to stretch a temporary sewer line across the 200-yard breach. Raw sewage was still pouring out of the pipes and downstream to the Wisconsin River.

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.

SECOND TIME AROUND FOR TOWN

Residents of Gays Mills, about 70 miles southwest of Lake Delton, stood on the edge of their ruined town, so close to finally turning the corner before this latest flood.

Photo: Storm clouds pass over the Town of Raymond, northwest of Racine, Wis., late Sunday June 8, 2008. Another wave of severe thunderstorms pounded the southern half of Wisconsin Sunday, creating flash floods, forcing evacuations and dredging up nightmares of flooding not even a year past. (Mark Hertzberg via AP)

For nearly a year, the tiny southwestern Wisconsin village along the lake has struggled to survive after a devastating flood. The new deluge may have sealed its fate.

Flash floods inundated the town of 625 over the weekend, just 10 months after residents worked to rebuild their homes and businesses.

The swollen Kickapoo River engulfed nearly the entire town Monday morning, forcing about 150 people to evacuate. By evening, the village was a grid of canals with cars submerged up to their windows and parking lots looking like lakes, just as it was in 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."

Photo: A farm is surrounded by floodwater from the White River as it overran its banks and levees near Elnora, Ind., Tuesday, June 10, 2008. The river is expected to crest later in the day. (Michael Conroy / AP).

SANDBAGGING IN INDIANA

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.