There is a chance for more rain in the Midwest as flooding kills two people and threatens a dam

The North Sioux City, South Dakota, railroad bridge was completely submerged during a heavy rainfall event on Saturday night. A woman with a white hair said goodbye

Hank Howley, a 71-year-old white haired woman, said as she watched the water gush over a partially sunken rail bridge in North Sioux City, South Dakota that the river normally is barely a trickle. “You could walk across it most of the time.”

Officials said the bridge fell into the river around 11 pm Sunday while it was in the middle of the night. Images on local media showed a large span of the steel bridge partially underwater as floodwaters rushed over it.

There were no reports of injuries from the collapse. The bridge’s owner, BNSF Railway, stopped operating it as a precautionary measure during the flooding. The railroad said the bridge was used by only a few trains per day and did not expect rerouting to have a significant impact.

The river hit a record high of 45 feet on Monday morning, according to the fire marshal.

In North Sioux City, the South Dakota Department of Transportation built a berm Sunday night across Interstate 29 to stem flooding, temporarily blocking the major route. Water crept toward the road in areas where the interstate was open. Howley, who has lived there for 33 years, said she has a concern for the flood situation around I-29.

A vast swath of lands from eastern Nebraska and South Dakota to Iowa and Minnesota have been under siege due to flooding since last week, while also being hit with a heat wave. Up to 18 inches of rain have fallen in some areas, and some rivers rose to record levels. At least two people died after driving in flooded areas, hundreds of people were rescued and homes were damaged.

“I just keep thinking about all this stuff I’ve lost and maybe the little things I could recover that we put up high,” said Aiden Engelkes in the northwestern Iowa community of Spencer, which imposed curfews during flooding that surpassed a record set in 1953.

Over the weekend, teams from Iowa’s natural resources department evacuated families with children and a person using a wheelchair from flooded homes, director Kayla Lyon told reporters. The governor said that the department conducted 250 water rescues on Saturday.

An elderly man’s house is in danger: More rain on the deluged Midwest as flooding kills 2 and threatens a dam

Outside Mankato, Minn., the local sheriff’s office said there was a “partial failure” of the western support structure for the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River after the dam became plugged with debris. The water eroded the western bank.

Eric Weller, the emergency management director for the Blue Earth County sheriff, said the bank would likely erode more, but he didn’t expect the concrete dam to fail. Two homes were evacuated.

An Associated Press investigation found that the Rapidan Dam was in very good shape and there was little likelihood of it failing. Repairs would cost more than 15 million dollars and removal would top 80 million dollars.

He could not return to his apartment in Spencer or go to work at the flooded chicken hatchery because the building is close to the river.

He was waiting for a boat to rescue him from his Chevy SUV, which was submerged in the water. Rescuers broke a window in a second-floor stairwell, and almost 70 people were taken away by boat in small groups.

The couple left with a bag of clothes, three cats in carrier, and a kitten in her shirt. Their apartment had about 4 feet of water. They are staying with his mother on higher ground.

Source: More rain is possible in the deluged Midwest as flooding kills 2 and threatens a dam

Iowa Flooding During the First Day of the Iowa Heat Wave, and the Death of a Chicagoland, Illinois, Man in Spencer, Iowa

The White House said the president was briefed about the flooding in Iowa by his homeland security team.

On Saturday, an Illinois man died while trying to drive around a barricade in Spencer, Iowa, Sioux City’s KTIV-TV reported Monday. The truck was swept away by the river. Officials recovered his body Monday.

Many streams, especially with additional rainfall, may not crest until later this week as the floodwaters slowly drain down a web of rivers to the Missouri and Mississippi. Kevin Low said the Missouri would crest at Omaha on Thursday.

During the heat wave, there was flooding in those states. Some communities were under an excessive heat warning due to flooding. Dangerous hot, muggy weather was expected again Tuesday around the Omaha area.

According to the weather service, there will be more than two dozen points of major flooding in southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota and northern Iowa.

The Monona County Sheriff’s Office said that the Little Omaha River broke through levees in several areas. The sheriff’s office posted a video on their website showing the river overflowing the levee and flooding the land in rural Smithland. There were no injuries immediately reported.

Patrick Prorok, emergency management coordinator in Monona County, described waking people at about 4 a.m. in Rodney, a town of about 45 people, to recommend evacuation. The water hadn’t yet trickled into the community.

Iowa’s First Day of Flooding: The James River Captured by Water. More than 200 Million Residents and Emergency Services in Humboldt, Iowa

South Dakota state geologist Tim Cowman said that the five major rivers in the state’s southeastern corner have crested and are dropping, albeit slowly. The last of those rivers to crest, the James, did so early Tuesday.

The major disaster declaration for Iowa was approved by the president on Monday, clearing the way for federal aid to be granted.

To the south in Sioux City and Woodbury County, Iowa, officials responded to residents’ complaints that they had received little warning of the flooding and its severity. The fire marshal said at the news conference that the rivers crested higher than predicted.

There was nothing we could do at this point because we didn’t know about it two weeks ago. We cannot extend the entire length of our levee,” Aesoph said. “It’s not possible.”

Homes on the south side of Spencer, Iowa, near the Little Sioux River are unlivable as water has reached the main floor, resident Ben Thomas said. A lot of people in town are facing a “double blow,” with homes and businesses affected.

Officials in Woodbury County said around a dozen bridges over the Little Sioux River had been topped by flood water, and each would need to be inspected to see if they can reopen to traffic.

Since the flooding started, Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic answered more than 200 calls, according to licensed wildlife rehabilitator Amanda Hase.

Hase described the flooding as “catastrophic” for Iowa wildlife, which are getting washed out of dens, injured by debris and separated from each other. She and other rehabilitators are responding to calls about all kinds of species, from fawns and groundhogs to bunnies and eaglets.

Further to the east in Humboldt, Iowa, a record crest of 16.5 feet was expected Wednesday at the west fork of the Des Moines River. According to county emergency manager Kyle Bissell, more than 68,000 bags of sand have been laid.

The water in the streets is still there, but the flooding begun in some backyards and was reaching up to the foundations. The area of Humboldt has nearly 5,000 residents.

In Michigan, more than 150,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday morning after severe thunderstorms barreled through, less than a week after storms left thousands in the dark for days in suburban Detroit.

Source: Iowa floodwaters breach levees as even more rain dumps onto parts of the Midwest

Do we believe in climate change or not? A warning warning against flood damage at Saylorville Lake, Iowa, the Army Corps of Engineers warned Tuesday

North of Des Moines, Iowa, the lake above the Saylorville Dam was absorbing river surge and expected to largely protect the metro area from flooding, according to the Polk County Emergency Management Agency. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projected Tuesday that water levels at Saylorville Lake will rise by more than 30 feet by the Fourth of July.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday cautioned against rebuilding too fast, instead emphasizing more sustainable repairs that could prevent or mitigate future flooding.

Nature doesn’t care if you believe in climate change or not. “The insurance companies sure believe in it. “The actuarials think in it, and we do.”