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updated 10 minutes agoupdated 10 minutes ago
25 dead as storms collide in
Midwest, Plains
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Downed power lines kill three people in Madison, Wisconsin
Wisconsin official: "Mother Nature has been really cruel to our state"
Red Cross says as many as 4,200 Minnesota homes affected
KETV: Iowa woman says she's guarding downed power lines to keep kids away
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(CNN) -- Two storm systems colliding along the nation's midsection set off a spate of weather warnings from
Colorado to Ohio as the deadly combination moved toward the Great Lakes on Wednesday.
Twenty-five people have been killed, mostly from
flooding, according to media reports.
Roads have been closed or washed out, governors have declared states of emergency and thousands of
homes have been damaged or destroyed.
"Mother Nature has been really cruel to our state the last four or five days," said Wisconsin Emergency
Management spokeswoman Lori Getter. "For many of these people, they've lost everything."
Compounding problems are the myriad closed and washed-out roads, which are impeding rescue efforts and
thwarting attempts to deliver water and other supplies to the hardest-hit areas, Getter said.
Get a closer look at the dangerous conditions »
Gov. Jim Doyle has declared several counties disaster areas, and the Wisconsin National Guard is working
to clear some of the roads left blocked or underwater after 16 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state
earlier this week.
In Madison, Wisconsin, a lightning strike Wednesday downed power lines, which fell onto a flooded street
and killed a child and two adults who were standing in the water, the city's fire department said.
Watch what floods have done across Midwest »
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In Wisconsin's Kenosha County alone, the damage tally for residences, businesses and infrastructure is
more than $30 million, according to WISN-TV. Of that, almost $14 million is road damage.
To add to the misery, up to two more inches of rain fell overnight in parts of Wisconsin, a state where the
flooding has already caused mudslides, derailed a train, wrecked homes and forced some residents to seek
shelter or higher ground, WISC-TV reported.
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I-Reporter Nate Roshon took
video of the flooding
KCCI: Residents evacuated
along Des Moines River
WISN: Rising waters force
state of emergency
KETV: Storms cut power in
Nebraska
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"It's really awe-inspiring to see how much damage has been done and
what this water has done," Doyle told WISC. "We've really seen in these
counties that everyone pulled together. Everybody knew what they were
supposed to do. They were well-drilled."
The American Red Cross said that in neighboring Minnesota, about
4,200 homes were affected by the weather, and nearly 600 of those
homes are destroyed or have major damage.
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Also in Minnesota, the state Pollution Control Agency reported it was
working to clean up more than a dozen fuel spills in people's houses.
The agency expects the number to climb as people return home.
The state Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, was sending officials
to the Rushford area, about 130 miles southeast of Minneapolis, after
receiving reports that 1,500 turkeys had been killed.
The National Weather Service predicted record flooding in northwest Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland has
declared emergencies in nine counties, WHIO-TV reported.
Near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, three high school athletes running on a trail near a flooded lake fell into the
water: Two were rescued, but one disappeared and is missing, KOCO-TV reported. Fire officials told the
station the search for the teenager is no longer a rescue operation, but a recovery effort.
Parts of Texas were still reeling after remnants of Tropical Storm Erin hammered the state last week.
Rain was still falling and flood warnings were in effect in the south-central portion of the state as San Antonio
residents attended a City Council session to express concern about the response to the flooding.
residents attended a City Council session to express concern about the response to the flooding.
"Who is going to fix our homes?" resident Anita Eakman asked, according to KSAT-TV. "Don't you think that
after this happened that somebody should have been out here?"
In Clare, Iowa, homeowners said they have seen more than a foot of rain since Friday night.
View photos from the flooding »
"I was going to put a sign out that said, 'House boat for sale, lower deck has built-in swimming pool,' " Tracy
Wilson told KCCI-TV.
Residents along the Des Moines River near Fort Dodge were urged to evacuate as water neared the tops of
levees north of town. The flood stage is 10 feet, and the river was at 14 feet -- and rising -- Wednesday
morning, Webster County Emergency Management Coordinator Tony Jorgenson told KCCI.
In Omaha, Nebraska, several neighborhoods remained without power Wednesday morning. High winds
toppled trees and power lines across the northeast section of the city Monday, leaving 22,000 people without
electricity.
About 300 were still without power Wednesday afternoon, KETV reported, but Omaha Public Power District
spokesman Jeff Hansen said it should be fully restored by Wednesday evening.
Tiffany Peak had to close her home daycare center because she didn't have power. She told KETV that she
spent the day guarding power lines in her yard so children wouldn't play with the deadly cables.
"The little kids were swinging from the power line in the tree," Peak said.
Clean-up crews are doing all they can as they work 12-hour shifts, but
heavy rain Wednesday hampered their efforts, city officials told KETV. E-mail to a friend
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