Severe flooding in six Midwestern states has forced evacuations, inundated homes, shut down bridges and left a number of Americans dead. And meteorologists expect looming storms to dump more rain on the flooded cities.
Five Americans are dead as a result of the severe weather conditions, which brought heavy downpours that flooded basements, forced evacuations and prompted residents to build makeshift levees and sandbag walls.
In Clarksville, Missouri, residents are hurriedly trying to keep the Mississippi from spilling over, placing sandbags on the edges of the rising river section.
In Michigan, the state university is flooded, its campus drowned in a river of rainwater that has turned its athletic field into a lake. In Indiana, levee breaks have caused further damages as the infrastructure failed to hold back the ferocity of the storm water.
Some towns in Indiana saw 14 feet of water -- record flood levels that haven't been experienced since 1958.
The Illinois River and the Mississippi have risen so high that barges struck bridges, broke away, and became submerged. Barge shipping was temporarily brought to a halt, slowing the transportation of coal and grain.
Along a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi near St. Louis, 114 barges broke loose and 11 sank in the waterways. Shipping resumed Tuesday, but the submerged barges remain buried beneath the river.
“The more I see the water come up, the more I’ll cry,” Starlynn Winchell, a resident of Spring Bay, Illinois, told CNN. Heavy downpours have flooded rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi and Michigan, prompting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to both declare a state of emergency.
Although the worst of the flooding occurred Sunday, Meteorologists predict that impending storms could dump more rainwater on the flooded regions and cause further devastation.
"If it gets another foot (higher), it's going to become another issue," St. Louis Mayor Tom Thompson told AP. Townsfolk "are kinda watching and holding their breath. ... Some things are going to really be close to the wire."
The portion of the Mississippi near Grafton, Ill., was 10 feet above flood stage, forcing downtown businesses to close down as the water flooded into the city. And communities across the Illinois River will witness record flooding if the lingering storms worsen the conditions.
"Along the Illinois, any increase is going to be cause for alarm, adding to their uncertainty and, in some cases, misery," Mark Fuchs, a National Weather Service hydrologist, told AP.
Meanwhile, snow has blanketed Minnesota and the Dakotas, and meteorologists worry that once the snow melts, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers will rise even higher than their current level.
Residents across the Midwest are bracing themselves for more rain and continue to build sandbag walls along river edges most vulnerable to flooding.
“The level of concern is high,” Fuchs told AP. “It does look like we’re going to see a bit of a bump up from this rainfall event.”(CNN) -- Tempestuous weather is striking the United States on four fronts. It seems as if Mother Nature is trying to throw much of the nation one extreme or another. Here's a roundup:
First tropical storm of the season?
An area of "disturbed weather" in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Yucatan Peninsula, could bring heavy rain and flooding to the Florida Peninsula and the Georgia and Carolina coasts by Thursday, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said.
Morris says he'll be watching to see if the bad weather becomes the first tropical depression -- or even the first tropical storm -- of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
At a minimum, the storms could cause a lot of rainfall and flooding on the Florida Peninsula, he said.
Fires
A 32,000-acre wildfire is burning some old-growth chaparral that lies in the western tip of the Mojave Desert in northern Los Angeles County.
Firefighters have brought the Powerhouse Fire 60% under control, said Ed Gilliland of the U.S. Forest Service.
Six homes have been destroyed, but conditions are safe enough to lift evacuation orders and allow people to return to the communities of Green Valley, Leona Valley, Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes, authorities said.
Higher humidity and lower temperatures should help firefighters, Gilliland said.
Added Morris: "They aren't expecting gusty winds in that area, so the conditions should be favorable for the firefighters to gain some ground there, which they have been."
In New Mexico, a wildfire is burning nearly uncontrollably in the mountains at Pecos. The Tres Lagunas Fire is only 7% contained and has charred 8,500 acres, authorities said, adding that crews are trying to protect structures in Holy Ghost Canyon.
Floods
The mighty Mississippi River is now at major flood stage in St. Louis, but the worst of it is over and waters will recede this week, Morris said.
The river has risen to more than 10 feet above flood stage.
Downriver, however, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, could face flooding as the surge moves downstream, Morris said.
But the city will be the last along the river to face such a threat, because the river begins to widen south of there, Morris said.
"We're expecting Cape Girardeau to reach major flood stage tonight and crest at the end of the week," Morris said Tuesday.
Crews in West Alton, Missouri -- a town just north of St. Louis where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet -- were reinforcing their levees with sandbags. The bridge to Alton, Illinois, was shut down after a temporary flood barricade failed.
On Tuesday, the Mississippi breached a 100- to 150-foot section of the levee close to the confluence, and authorities have notified 43 homes, said Rivers Pointe Fire Chief Rick Pender in West Alton. Water has reportedly traveled two miles inside the levee.
Tornado Alley
Still reeling from deadly twisters, Oklahoma faced a slight risk of thunderstorms Tuesday, but the good news is there's only a slight chance of an isolated tornado, Morris said. There is, however, a chance of large hail and damaging straight-line winds in northwest Oklahoma, he said.
"For most of the state, it's just a very slight risk of severe storms," Morris said.
There is also a slight risk of severe weather for the southern half of Kansas, far northern Texas and southeast Colorado.
Oklahoma's recent storms have killed 19 people, said Shanea Scully, administrative coordinator for the Oklahoma City Fire Department.
The tornado that struck El Reno, Oklahoma, on May 31 was declared to be the widest in history, at 2.6 miles, and its damage rating was raised to EF5, the most severe, the National Weather Service announced Tuesday.
Indian army personnel help stranded people cross a flooded river after heavy rains in Uttarakhand. - Reuters
In perhaps a case of better late than never, India will soon begin inundation mapping of its flood-prone areas — the existence of such a protocol could have mitigated the extent of the Uttarakhand disaster — but the exercise will be complete only by 2022, a senior official has said.
Secretary (Water Resources) SK Sarkar said in an interview that the inundation maps will make use of data obtained through remote sensing technology and help district administration officials estimate how much area will be covered by flood waters.
He said water resources ministry will increase the number of forecasting stations and move towards preparing inundation maps for the flood-prone areas of the country in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) period, adding that the exercise would be completed by the 13th Plan (2017-22) period.
"Inundation mapping requires contour maps and river data. The CWC, Survey of India and NRSC (National Remote Sensing Agency) are working on the issue," Sarkar said.
The inundation maps will pictorially represent areas that would come under water for every metre's increase in a river's level above the danger mark.
The total flood-prone area in the country has been estimated to be 45.65 millon hectares based on reports by states to the working group on a flood control programme for the 10th Plan.
He said more observation and monitoring stations will help improve forecast and allow greater time gap in issuing flood warnings.
"The CWC (Central Water Commission) has estimated that there was need for 2,795 hydrological observation stations in the country. There are 878 observation stations at present. We intend to set up 800 more during the 12th Plan period," Sarkar said.
In the case of the Uttarakhand disaster it has become evident that while the state government was warned of heavy rain 48 hours in advance, there was no warning of floods in the affected areas.
Sarkar emphasised there has to be a long term solution to the problem of floods.
He said the impact of floods can be minimised by adopting an optimum combination of structural measures such as large storage reservoirs, detention basins and embankments and non-structural measures like flood forecasting, flood plain zoning and catchment area treatment.
"Better forecasting and inundation plans will help in flood management," he said.
The national water policy 2012 states that flood forecasting is very important for flood preparedness and should be expanded extensively, modernized using real time data acquisition system and linked to forecasting models.
It says that flood inundation maps should be prepared to evolve coping strategies. The policy states that efforts should be towards developing physical models for various basin sections, which should be linked to each other and to medium range weather forecasts to enhance lead time.
The policy also refers to the need of preparation in case of sudden and unexpected flood related disasters.
The policy also notes that protection of all flood-prone areas may not be practicable.
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