Rising flood waters swamp Iowa city, 20 dead in Midwest

3 hours ago

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AFP) — Rising flood waters swamped this central US river city on Friday, forcing residents to flee their homes and officials to abandon city hall amid a wider crisis that has left 20 dead.

"We've been in a major flood fight for about 10 days now," Bret Voorhees, spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told AFP.

"Nine of our major rivers are at record or new record levels. We're designating it a 500-year flood."

The state capital Des Moines, population 200,000, urged residents living within the "500-year flood zone" to evacuate as the Des Moines River was expected to rise to near the top of the levee.

A total of 15 lives have been lost in Iowa and thousands were left homeless, Voorhees said, while 10 counties are under evacuation orders and 83 of the state's 99 counties have been declared disaster areas.

Two people were killed by floodwaters in Indiana and two delivery people drowned Sunday when their car fell off a washed out road into a flooded creek, the National Weather Service said.

Another person was killed Wednesday when a tornado ripped through the town of Chapman, Kansas.

The disaster began when a major tornado struck on May 25. It was followed by heavy rains, with more thunderstorms expected this weekend, and on Wednesday another twister touched ground in western Iowa, killing four boy scouts.

Serious flooding has hit the entire region, including parts of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and was expected to continue through next week.

At least 53 locations in those states were expected to see "major flooding" in the next two days, the National Weather Service said.

"We're trapped with nowhere to go," said Gloria Hines, who lives about a dozen blocks from where the river spilled over in Cedar Rapids.

The floodwaters had not reached her home yet, but the street was made impassable by water gushing out of storm drains. A few small fish spilled out of the contaminated sewage ways.

Torrential rains resumed Thursday, leaving downriver towns preparing for the worst and the National Guard called in to help an army of volunteers with sandbagging and rescue efforts.

"Our predictions of a 100-year flood, or greater, are really coming to pass," said Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey. "The flows will continue to increase."

A boat ride through Cedar Rapid's water-logged downtown saw every organ of government crippled by the floods.

The library, the federal building and city hall were all filled with water, which rippled through basements and pulled files and furniture out through the windows.

Inmates in the county jail were evacuated along with their mattresses.

On one building, clutching the cats that nearly cost them their lives, perched Charles Schmitt, 19, and girlfriend Kayla Lambreacht.

They had fled their nearby home when the basement filled with water. But when they stopped to take a picture one of the cats jumped into the river, prompting Schmitt to go in after it, and his girlfriend to follow.

Clutching two storage bins that Lambreacht tossed into the water, they floated for 45 minutes before they found a building to climb into.

"We kept calling 911 but the phone went out," Schmitt said. "We were up there for two hours."

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