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Midwest braces for record floods as waters STILL rise



At least three people have died in flooding that is causing havoc across the Midwest.


In all three deaths - two at the same spot in Indiana and one in Missouri - vehicles were swept off the road in flash floods.

The flooding was started by torrential rain last week which caused the Mississippi and many other rivers to surge in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.


And the misery is not over as forecasters say more rain is expected tonight and tomorrow in many places.

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Submerged: Joe Biggerstaff wades away from his mother's home north of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. The rising Grand River has driven hundreds of people from their homes



Floods: Homes in Robinson Michigan are completely engulfed by flood waters from the Grand River



Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell has declared a state of emergency as the city, like so many others across the Midwest, deals with rising waters



Depth: Traffic clogs the Pearl Street bridge as crowds of people check out the level of the swollen river in downtown Grand Rapids. The river hit a record 21.86ft yesterday morning



Danger: Flood water nearly reaches the crossing of CSX trestle bridge in Grand Rapids. The bridge is seen here with freight train on it




Emergency: Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell declared a state of emergency as the flooding river poured into the basements of several hotels and other downtown buildings

Flood waters claimed the life of an Indiana man and Missouri woman after their vehicles were submerged as the Midwest braces for potentially record-level flooding and torrential downpour.

Robert Morgan, 64, of Arcadia, Indiana, died Friday attempting to drive his car through the rising water.




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He was carried 100 yards downstream in Hamilton County, according to a statement from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

Police responded to a 911 call from a motorist who said his vehicle was sinking in the same spot where Morgan's car was submerged.


Upon arrival, rescuers found an unoccupied truck 200 feet from the roadway. The phone that called 911 belonged to an Arcadia resident, but the owner had not been found, police said.




Flooding in Grand Rapids. State of emergency declared




Observing: Pedestrians walk along the Pearl Street bridge as crowds of people check out the level of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapid



Bob Bailey tinkers with a pump as he tries to keep floodwater from the Mississippi River out of one of his rental properties in Clarksville, Mo.





Powerful rain have swollen many rivers and streams across the state to record or near record levels



Escape: Kate Krueger removes belongings from the flooded home she rents on the Grand River north of downtown Grand Rapids. She is helped by her friend Wendy Kondracki




Misery: Mr Biggerstaff wades past a floating clothes dryer in his mother's home. The flooded river has caused misery over a large swathe of Michigan

Also killed was a still unidentified 80-year-old woman in De Soto, Missouri. The woman's car was washed off Veteran's Drive on Thursday afternoon, Fox St. Louis reported.

Spots south of St. Louis are not expected to crest until late this week, and significant flooding is possible in many places.


Adding to concern is the forecast. National Weather Service meteorologist Julie Phillipson said an inch of rain is likely in many places tonight and into Tuesday, some places could receive more than that.

Torrential rains over the last few days have led to flooding in parts of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, resulting in blocked roads, closed schools and rescues by boat from homes surrounded by flood waters.

An all-too-familiar springtime ritual played out around the nation’s heartland this weekend as volunteers, National Guardsmen and even prison inmates joined together in an effort to ward off fast-rising floodwaters.

Dangerously high waters dotted at least six Midwestern states following torrential rains this past week that dumped up to 7 inches in some locations. Record flooding was possible in some places as dozens of rivers overflowed their banks.


Homes and businesses have been evacuated across several states as waters continue rising




Steve Ravenscraft of North Park Ave. continues to clean up following this past week's flooding, Saturday, April 20, 2013 in Lombard, Ill.





Cars overtaken by flood waters have been responsible for two deaths in the region



In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn addresses flooding concerns throughout the state, during a press conference along the Fox River

River towns are not yet in the clear: An inch or more of rain is in the forecast as well as continuing accumulation of snow to the north, especially in Minnesota and the Dakotas.


Flood watchers along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers know that once that snow - record levels in some cases - melts, a lot of it ends up in the big rivers.

In scenic Grafton, a small tourist town 40 miles north of St. Louis, floodwater 3 inches deep seeped into the basement of Pam and Dennis Bick's home where they've lived for four decades.

'We have time to figure out what to do, where we would go and where we would put everything,' Pam Bick, 57, said. 'I don't want it to come up any more. But I can't stop it.'

The water levels forced evacuations, closed roads, swamped hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and shut down much of the upper Mississippi River to barge traffic.

Two Mississippi River bridges were closed and a third was shut down for a few hours after 114 barges broke loose Saturday night south of St. Louis and floated down the fast-moving river toward Jefferson Barracks Bridge in St. Louis County.



A hydrologist with the USGS, leaves the monitoring station near the Brown Street Overlook as flooding on the Wabash River continues, in West Lafayette, Ind.





Chad Keedy and stepdaughter Jordan DeBolt of Chillicothe, Ill., paddle through flood waters in their neighborhood as the Illinois River rises due to heavy rains earlier in the week



Kaitlyn Keedy, 10, walks through a flooded portion of her neighborhood along in Chiilicothe, Ill.

The Missouri Department of Transportation shut down the bridge at 2 a.m. Sunday for an inspection; it reopened at 8 a.m.

Because of the danger posed by the runaway barges, the U.S. Coast Guard shut down a 15-mile stretch of the river, much of which was already effectively closed between the Quad Cities and north of St. Louis after the Army Corps of Engineers shut down most locks in that stretch or river.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Weelmaa said the barges had been moored along the side of the river when they broke free, and it wasn’t clear how that happened.

By midmorning Sunday, all of the barges had been corralled with help from several St. Louis-area tow operators, Weelmaa said.

Several Mississippi River towns north of St. Louis were expected to see crests sometime Sunday, including Clarksville, Mo.



Michelle VanDuynhoven gives her husband, John, a letter to mail at their home in Lincolnshire, Ill.



A person observes the flooding on the Wabash River from the Brown Street Overlook, in West Lafayette, Ind.

Volunteers in the tiny community have worked endlessly since Wednesday to build a makeshift sandbag levee that seemed to be holding as the crest— expected to be 11 feet above flood stage — approached. Even prisoners from far-away Jefferson City were brought in to help.

Richard Cottrell, 64, emerged from his two-story brick home — dating to 1845, the oldest dwelling in town — around breakfast Sunday to walk his beagle and survey Mississippi’s persistent rise.

A sandbag wall just in front of his house was holding the river at bay as workers a half a block away hustled to fortify it.

After two days of endless sandbagging, Cottrell thought he could rest Saturday night, but the constant beeping of heavy equipment outside and flood worries kept him up.

'I had a rough night last night. I had an anxiety attack,' said Cottrell, who also owns a downtown antique store.

Trish Connelly, 57, was optimistic the town would beat back the river. Her plan to open a new fine arts gallery downtown this weekend were on hold “until we know what the river is going to do,” she said.


Towns are bracing themselves as flood waters are expected to crest Sunday and could reach record heights


A boat sits in a flooded portion of a neighborhood in Chiilicothe, Ill.

'This is frustrating for people,' Connelly said. 'This isn’t as bad as 2008, but thank God it stopped raining.'

Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday toured the unprotected-by-choice town that was also flooded in 2008, 2001, 1998, 1995 and many times before that.

'The water is continuing to rise but it is our full hope and expectation that these walls will hold,' Nixon said of the sandbag levees. Clarksville has a flood protection system in which a temporary levee — aluminum slats filled with sand — can be built if the river rises, but the Mississippi was too quick this time.

Recreational traffic on the river has been halted, too, including the Mark Twain Riverboat that offers excursions at scenic Hannibal, Mo. Owner and pilot Steve Terry has moored the ship since Thursday, with no end in sight.

Even crossing the river was difficult. One of two bridges at Quincy, Ill., closed Friday, and the narrow two-lane bridge at the Missouri town of Louisiana was shut down Saturday. To get across, people in the Louisiana, Mo., area either had to drive 35 miles north or 50-plus miles south.

Louisiana, Mo., resident Erica Campbell, whose rented home in a low-lying area of town was flooded for the second time in three years, and she said she’s had enough. Campbell, her husband and their eight kids are packing up.

'We’re planning to move to the country — as far away from water as I can get,' Campbell, 35, said.

Smaller rivers across the Midwest were swelling, too. In Illinois, heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar will shut down its East Peoria, Ill., factory Sunday as the Illinois River approaches an expected 30-foot crest early next week.



Several Indiana towns were threatened by high water, forcing hundreds of evacuations.

The Wabash River in Tippecanoe County reached more than 14 feet above flood stage on Saturday, the highest level since 1958. Indiana Gov. Mitch Pence took a helicopter tour Saturday of damage in Kokomo, Tipton and Elwood.

The mayor of Grand Rapids, Mich., declared a state of emergency Saturday, the same day high water forced the evacuation of the Courtyard Marriott Hotel and an apartment building.

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