Evacuations rise as swollen rivers inundate homes across Midwest
ST. LOUIS — Residents in parts of southwestern Iowa were forced out of their homes Sunday as a torrent of Missouri River water flowed over and through levees.
Heavy rainfall and snowmelt forced river levels across several Midwestern states to dangerous levels. At least two deaths were blamed on flooding, and two other men have been missing for days. While river levels on Sunday were starting to level off in Nebraska, other residents in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri were bracing for worse flooding to come.
The Missouri River reached 30.2 feet Sunday in Fremont County, Iowa, in the state’s far southwestern corner, 2 feet above the record set in 2011. People in the small towns of Bartlett and Thurman were being evacuated as levees were breached and overtopped. Thurman has about 200 residents, about 50 people live in Bartlett.
County Emergency Management Director Mike Crecelius said it wasn’t just the amount of the water, it was the swiftness of the current that created danger.
“This wasn’t a gradual rise,” Crecelius said. “It’s flowing fast and it’s open country — there’s nothing there to slow it down.”
Lucinda Parker of Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management said nearly 2,000 people have been evacuated at eight Iowa locations since flooding began last week.
In Nebraska, the Missouri River flooded Offutt Air Force Base. Spokeswoman Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake told the Omaha World-Herald that 60 buildings were damaged, including about 30 inundated with as much as 8 feet of water Sunday. Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in Nebraska, but rivers there were starting to recede.
The flooding is blamed on at least two deaths. Aleido Rojas Galan, 52, of Norfolk, Neb., was swept away in floodwaters Friday night in southwestern Iowa, when...