Flooding in Janesville, Wisconsin

[tinasmom]

This is the park that I was married in. We have more rain in the forecast.

[jazz'smum]

They where showing those floods on our news last night.
Hope your away from it and it doesnt effect you too much tinasmom.

[jazz'smum]

Floods force thousands from homes

IOWA'S biggest cities were submerged today after swollen rivers forced thousands of residents to flee their homes amid devastating floods in the Midwestern US state.

Unprecedented flooding covered hundreds of city blocks in Cedar Rapids as officials urged residents to limit their water use to drinking, according to the municipality's website.

In the state capital, Des Moines, population 200,000, public works crews and Iowa National Guard soldiers raced to build a berm - a narrow ledge along the top of a slope - after a levee breached in the early hours today.

From the air, just the tops of some trees were visible in the mud-brown waters.

The swollen rivers that line the state swamped fields and covered roads and bridges. Only bridges and tree lines hinted at the original banks.

The University of Iowa, based in Iowa City, cancelled classes until June 22 as the flood threatened its dorms, research facilities, library and art museum.

The university urged employees to work from home if possible or consider volunteering in the emergency relief efforts.

"This has been a very trying week for our state,'' Iowa Governor Chet Culver said in a statement.

"Responding to a crisis like this takes the cooperation of everyone, from the federal government down to the local communities.''

Extreme weather has left at least 15 dead and thousands homeless in the state in recent days, said Bret Voorhees, spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Five others were killed in other parts of the US Midwest.

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

Another person was killed on 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.

[Bernard]

Do you own a canoe, Laura? It might come in handy soon!

I hope your house and family stay high and dry. Stay away from the floodwaters. We have problems with floods down here all the time. Floodwaters are usually contaminated and full of snakes/ants/etc.

[RobinN]

I hope you all stay safe.
Keep us updated if you are able to.

[tinasmom]

Luckily I'm on the side of town that is away from the river. We are located by the Interstate on the higher side of town. Although the storm sewers are backing up all over the place. We went to watch the bikers come down the street by us for the MDA tub run and the creek was really moving and stunk. This creek has been dry for years. I'm glad that we are not getting hit as hard as some other places.

[BuckeyeFan]

It must be so unreal to see all of these places covered with water. I have a cousin in Iowa. They are still OK, but the damage is throughout their area. Cedar Rapids flooding broke the previous worse flood by 12 FEET.

Now everyone downstream needs to be on the lookout.

Stay safe Laura.

No offense to anyone from Louisiana, but lets see some of that great mid-west grit to clean this up and get everything back to normal soon.

[Shelley]

How is everything in Ohio? I didn't it listed as flooding. On the map, it wasn't highlighted.

[BuckeyeFan]

Ohio has had plenty of tornados and storms this year (including last night again, 55-60 mph winds and funnel cloud sightings), but nothing like Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the others. Most of our flooding has been localized and not over vast areas like we had last summer. I live fairly close to Indiana and some of Ohio's rivers drain in that direction (Wabash) which is not helping them at all.

[tinasmom]

JANESVILLE--Officials are urging residents to stay out of the water because of raw sewage and other harmful chemicals that are being dumped in the river.

Fort Atkinson and Jefferson have bypassed their wastewater treatment plants in an effort to save the overwhelmed facilities and are dumping raw sewage into the Rock River, Janesville City Manager Steve Sheiffer said.

Sheiffer’s comments were eye-opening to some residents in the Mole & Sadler’s subdivision this morning when he held a neighborhood meeting there.

“That water is full of sewage. Seriously full of sewage,” Sheiffer said, pointing to the flooded river behind him.

City officials tested the flood water, which showed it full of E. coli, a harmful bacteria, and chloroform, both of which will make people ill, he said.

Skin that comes in contact with the flood water should be scrubbed with soap and clean water.

Now we have to make sure the kids don't go near any water.

[stilldancing_98]

Flooding in IL too. Last time it flooded like this was the day I was bord in Rock Island IL. I lived in Rochelle.I have over 300 relatives back there. I am praying for you all.Teresa