Freak Midwest Storm Dumps 8 Inches in Areas

June 5, 2002
By David Pitt

The Midwest got a heavy dose of flooding after a storm dumped more than 8 inches if rain on some areas, sending creeks and rivers out of their banks and leading to evacuations of dozens of homes.

Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois were hit the hardest from Tuesday's storms as basements quickly filled up with water.

"It was very bad. It was something that happened so fast that for some people it was a life-threatening situation to have the water coming up around the houses like that," said Steve Braun, emergency management director in Wisconsin's Grant County.

About 25 homes in southwestern Wisconsin were evacuated as water from a nearby creek flooded basements, dislodged natural gas tanks and left several inches of mud behind, officials said.

Some of the heaviest rainfall was reported in the town of Sterling in northwestern Illinois, which has received 8.58 inches since the storm struck on Monday.

Up to 8 inches of rain in 24 hours turned rivers into lakes in eastern Iowa, where Gov. Tom Vilsack declared seven counties disaster areas.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said 10 cities in northeast Iowa were forced to bypass their wastewater treatment plants to prevent sewage from flooding basements.

"We never like to see bypassing occur at our wastewater treatment plants, but we also have to recognize that weather conditions sometimes make it necessary," said Barb Lynch, Acting Field Services and Compliance Bureau Chief.

In Cedar Rapids, Dick and Yvonne Lawrence said Indian Creek is normally about 200 feet from their back door. On Tuesday afternoon, it was in the bedroom.

"I had the dog on the bed because the bed was floating," Lawrence, 72, said shortly after firefighters in an inflatable boat rescued him and his Dalmatian Penny from Indian Creek's sudden crest. "I kept thinking it was going to go down. It just kept coming up."

Residents of a trailer park on the north edge of Dubuque were evacuated after the Little Maquoketa River crept out of its banks. Dubuque officials called off classes on the last day of school due to flooding.

In Illinois, boats were called to rescue several people from a campground between a flooded creek and the Rock River near Lyndon, said Joellen Schroeder, the department's communications supervisor.

At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, flight delays of up to two hours were reported, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the city Department of Aviation.

Iowa authorities rescued at least two drivers stranded by fast-rising floodwaters, and three firefighters had to be rescued when their boat capsized. Firefighters rescued a man from flood-swollen Spencer Creek when his van was swept from a rural roadway.

"He is very lucky," rescue worker Todd Akers said. "That's what he kept saying once we got to him: 'I'm just glad to be alive.'"

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